diff --git a/backend/courses/views.py b/backend/courses/views.py
index 132eb092..4f62e511 100644
--- a/backend/courses/views.py
+++ b/backend/courses/views.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.db.models import Prefetch, Q
-from django.http import JsonResponse
+from django.http import Http404, JsonResponse
 from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404
 from django_auto_prefetching import AutoPrefetchViewSetMixin
 from rest_framework import generics, status
@@ -473,11 +473,12 @@ class FriendshipView(generics.ListAPIView):
                 "POST": {
                     201: "Friendship request created successfully.",
                     200: "Friendship request accepted successfully.",
+                    404: "Username was None/ Username did not exist.",
                     409: "Friendship request already exists",
                 },
                 "DELETE": {
                     200: "Friendship rejected/deleted/cancelled successfully.",
-                    404: "Friendship does not exist.",
+                    404: "Friendship does not exist or Username does not exist.",
                     409: "Friendship request already rejected.",
                 },
             }
@@ -526,7 +527,12 @@ def get_all_friendships(self):
 
     def post(self, request):
         sender = request.user
-        recipient = get_object_or_404(User, username=request.data.get("pennkey"))
+
+        username = request.data.get("pennkey")
+        if not username:
+            raise Http404("User not found.")
+
+        recipient = get_object_or_404(User, username=username.lower())
 
         existing_friendship = (
             self.get_all_friendships().filter(Q(recipient=recipient) | Q(sender=recipient)).first()
@@ -560,9 +566,15 @@ def post(self, request):
     def delete(self, request):
         # either deletes a friendship or cancels/rejects a friendship request
         # (depends on who sends the request)
-        res = {}
+
         sender = request.user
-        recipient = get_object_or_404(User, username=request.data.get("pennkey"))
+        res = {}
+
+        username = request.data.get("pennkey")
+        if not username:
+            raise Http404("User not found.")
+
+        recipient = get_object_or_404(User, username=username.lower())
 
         existing_friendship = (
             self.get_all_friendships().filter(Q(recipient=recipient) | Q(sender=recipient)).first()
diff --git a/backend/tests/courses/test_friendship_models.py b/backend/tests/courses/test_friendship_models.py
index 8eae9d8a..a836b237 100644
--- a/backend/tests/courses/test_friendship_models.py
+++ b/backend/tests/courses/test_friendship_models.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def test_basic_friendship(self):
         self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u2).exists())
         self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u1).exists())
 
-        make_friends = self.client1.post(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": u2.username})
+        make_friends = self.client1.post(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": u2.username.upper()})
 
         self.assertEquals(make_friends.status_code, 201)
         self.assertTrue(
@@ -37,6 +37,33 @@ def test_basic_friendship(self):
         )
         self.assertFalse(Friendship.objects.filter(sender=u2, recipient=u1).exists())
 
+    def test_none_username(self):
+        u1 = self.u1
+        u2 = self.u2
+
+        self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u2).exists())
+        self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u1).exists())
+
+        make_friends = self.client1.post(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": ""})
+
+        self.assertEquals(make_friends.status_code, 404)
+
+    def test_none_delete(self):
+        u1 = self.u1
+        u2 = self.u2
+
+        self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u2).exists())
+        self.assertTrue(UserProfile.objects.filter(user=u1).exists())
+
+        make_friends = self.client1.post(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": u2.username.upper()})
+        self.assertEquals(make_friends.status_code, 201)
+
+        delete_none = self.client1.delete(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": ""})
+        self.assertEquals(delete_none.status_code, 404)
+
+        delete_friends = self.client2.delete(reverse("friendship"), {"pennkey": u1.username})
+        self.assertEquals(delete_friends.status_code, 200)
+
     def test_basic_friendship_accept(self):
         u1 = self.u1
         u2 = self.u2