diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/45631-empty-cow-whitelist.yml b/changelogs/fragments/45631-empty-cow-whitelist.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dd556c63253
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/45631-empty-cow-whitelist.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- cowsay - Fix issue with an empty cow_whitelist (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/45631)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
index 6735cf66f45..b0253c8317d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
                 cmd = subprocess.Popen([self.b_cowsay, "-l"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
                 (out, err) = cmd.communicate()
                 self.cows_available = set([to_text(c) for c in out.split()])
-                if C.ANSIBLE_COW_WHITELIST:
+                if C.ANSIBLE_COW_WHITELIST and any(C.ANSIBLE_COW_WHITELIST):
                     self.cows_available = set(C.ANSIBLE_COW_WHITELIST).intersection(self.cows_available)
             except Exception:
                 # could not execute cowsay for some reason