diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
index 95f3be3adb..580a56c6f3 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
@@ -27,7 +27,20 @@ export default ['$stateParams', '$scope', '$state', 'QuerySet', 'GetBasePath', '
                 // setting the default value of a term to null in a state definition is a very explicit way to ensure it will NEVER generate a search tag, even with a non-default value
                 return defaults[key] !== value && key !== 'order_by' && key !== 'page' && key !== 'page_size' && defaults[key] !== null;
             });
-            return _(stripped).map(qs.decodeParam).flatten().value();
+            let strippedCopy = _.cloneDeep(stripped);
+            if(_.keys(_.pick(defaults, _.keys(strippedCopy))).length > 0){
+                for (var key in strippedCopy) {
+                    if (strippedCopy.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
+                        let value = strippedCopy[key];
+                        if(_.isArray(value)){
+                            let index = _.indexOf(value, defaults[key]);
+                            value = value.splice(index, 1)[0];
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                stripped = strippedCopy;
+            }
+            return _(strippedCopy).map(qs.decodeParam).flatten().value();
         }
 
         // searchable relationships