diff --git a/src/components/structures/RoomStatusBar.js b/src/components/structures/RoomStatusBar.js
index 245117387e..670fbe44da 100644
--- a/src/components/structures/RoomStatusBar.js
+++ b/src/components/structures/RoomStatusBar.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ var sdk = require('../../index');
 var dis = require("../../dispatcher");
 var WhoIsTyping = require("../../WhoIsTyping");
 var MatrixClientPeg = require("../../MatrixClientPeg");
-import {emojifyText} from '../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../views/elements/EmojiText';
 
 module.exports = React.createClass({
     displayName: 'RoomStatusBar',
@@ -260,11 +260,10 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         }
 
         var typingString = this.state.whoisTypingString;
-        const typingHtml = emojifyText(typingString);
         if (typingString) {
             return (
                 <div className="mx_RoomStatusBar_typingBar">
-                    <span dangerouslySetInnerHTML={typingHtml} />
+                    <EmojiText>{typingString}</EmojiText>
                 </div>
             );
         }
diff --git a/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js b/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
index f0a36c6608..ef20c46461 100644
--- a/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
+++ b/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 var React = require('react');
 var AvatarLogic = require("../../../Avatar");
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../../views/elements/EmojiText';
 
 module.exports = React.createClass({
     displayName: 'BaseAvatar',
@@ -142,15 +142,13 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         } = this.props;
 
         if (imageUrl === this.state.defaultImageUrl) {
-            var initialLetter = emojifyText(this._getInitialLetter(name));
+            const initialLetter = this._getInitialLetter(name);
             return (
                 <span className="mx_BaseAvatar" {...otherProps}>
-                    <span className="mx_BaseAvatar_initial" aria-hidden="true"
+                    <EmojiText className="mx_BaseAvatar_initial" aria-hidden="true"
                             style={{ fontSize: (width * 0.65) + "px",
                                     width: width + "px",
-                                    lineHeight: height + "px" }}
-                            dangerouslySetInnerHTML={initialLetter}>
-                    </span>
+                                    lineHeight: height + "px" }}>{initialLetter}</EmojiText>
                     <img className="mx_BaseAvatar_image" src={imageUrl}
                         alt="" title={title} onError={this.onError}
                         width={width} height={height} />
diff --git a/src/components/views/elements/EmojiText.js b/src/components/views/elements/EmojiText.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cb6cd2ef5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/views/elements/EmojiText.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ Copyright 2016 Aviral Dasgupta
+
+ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import React from 'react';
+import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+
+export default function EmojiText(props) {
+    const {element, children, ...restProps} = props;
+    restProps.dangerouslySetInnerHTML = emojifyText(children);
+    return React.createElement(element, restProps);
+}
+
+EmojiText.propTypes = {
+    element: React.PropTypes.string,
+    children: React.PropTypes.string.isRequired,
+};
+
+EmojiText.defaultProps = {
+    element: 'span',
+};
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/SenderProfile.js b/src/components/views/messages/SenderProfile.js
index e331e9843c..10957f87a9 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/SenderProfile.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/SenderProfile.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 'use strict';
 
 import React from 'react';
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 export default function SenderProfile(props) {
     const {mxEvent} = props;
@@ -29,10 +29,8 @@ export default function SenderProfile(props) {
     }
 
     return (
-        <span className="mx_SenderProfile"
-              dangerouslySetInnerHTML={emojifyText(`${name || ''} ${props.aux || ''}`)}
-              onClick={props.onClick}>
-        </span>
+        <EmojiText className="mx_SenderProfile"
+              onClick={props.onClick}>{`${name || ''} ${props.aux || ''}`}</EmojiText>
     );
 }
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
index 3c5d173e33..1ed41b025a 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualBody.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ var linkify = require('linkifyjs');
 var linkifyElement = require('linkifyjs/element');
 var linkifyMatrix = require('../../../linkify-matrix');
 var sdk = require('../../../index');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../../views/elements/EmojiText';
 
 linkifyMatrix(linkify);
 
@@ -202,10 +202,9 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         switch (content.msgtype) {
             case "m.emote":
                 const name = mxEvent.sender ? mxEvent.sender.name : mxEvent.getSender();
-                const nameHtml = emojifyText(name);
                 return (
                     <span ref="content" className="mx_MEmoteBody mx_EventTile_content">
-                        * <span dangerouslySetInnerHTML={nameHtml} /> { body }
+                        * <EmojiText>{name}</EmojiText> { body }
                         { widgets }
                     </span>
                 );
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.js b/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.js
index 251a44a30a..32870f5dd4 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 var React = require('react');
 
 var TextForEvent = require('../../../TextForEvent');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 module.exports = React.createClass({
     displayName: 'TextualEvent',
@@ -33,11 +33,8 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
     render: function() {
         var text = TextForEvent.textForEvent(this.props.mxEvent);
         if (text == null || text.length === 0) return null;
-        let textHTML = emojifyText(TextForEvent.textForEvent(this.props.mxEvent));
-
         return (
-            <div className="mx_TextualEvent" dangerouslySetInnerHTML={textHTML}>
-            </div>
+            <EmojiText element="div" className="mx_TextualEvent">{text}</EmojiText>
         );
     },
 });
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/EntityTile.js b/src/components/views/rooms/EntityTile.js
index 8a99b4c565..9e03e18d79 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/EntityTile.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/EntityTile.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var React = require('react');
 
 var MatrixClientPeg = require('../../../MatrixClientPeg');
 var sdk = require('../../../index');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 
 var PRESENCE_CLASS = {
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         var mainClassName = "mx_EntityTile ";
         mainClassName += presenceClass + (this.props.className ? (" " + this.props.className) : "");
         var nameEl;
-        let nameHTML = emojifyText(this.props.name);
+        const {name} = this.props;
 
         if (this.state.hover && !this.props.suppressOnHover) {
             var activeAgo = this.props.presenceLastActiveAgo ?
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
             nameEl = (
                 <div className="mx_EntityTile_details">
                     <img className="mx_EntityTile_chevron" src="img/member_chevron.png" width="8" height="12"/>
-                    <div className="mx_EntityTile_name_hover" dangerouslySetInnerHTML={nameHTML}></div>
+                    <EmojiText element="div" className="mx_EntityTile_name_hover">{name}</EmojiText>
                     <PresenceLabel activeAgo={ activeAgo }
                         currentlyActive={this.props.presenceCurrentlyActive}
                         presenceState={this.props.presenceState} />
@@ -123,8 +123,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
         }
         else {
             nameEl = (
-                <div className="mx_EntityTile_name" dangerouslySetInnerHTML={nameHTML}>
-                </div>
+                <EmojiText element="div" className="mx_EntityTile_name">{name}</EmojiText>
             );
         }
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MemberInfo.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MemberInfo.js
index c087e7dc71..77a0aae1d9 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MemberInfo.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MemberInfo.js
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ var Modal = require("../../../Modal");
 var sdk = require('../../../index');
 var UserSettingsStore = require('../../../UserSettingsStore');
 var createRoom = require('../../../createRoom');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 module.exports = React.createClass({
     displayName: 'MemberInfo',
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                 </div>
         }
 
-        let memberNameHTML = emojifyText(this.props.member.name);
+        const memberName = this.props.member.name;
 
         var MemberAvatar = sdk.getComponent('avatars.MemberAvatar');
         var PowerSelector = sdk.getComponent('elements.PowerSelector');
@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                     <MemberAvatar onClick={this.onMemberAvatarClick} member={this.props.member} width={48} height={48} />
                 </div>
 
-                <h2 dangerouslySetInnerHTML={memberNameHTML}></h2>
+                <EmojiText element="h2">{memberNameHTML}</EmojiText>
 
                 <div className="mx_MemberInfo_profile">
                     <div className="mx_MemberInfo_profileField">
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomHeader.js b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomHeader.js
index 8c1b2aaff8..7c842da97a 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomHeader.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomHeader.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ var Modal = require("../../../Modal");
 var linkify = require('linkifyjs');
 var linkifyElement = require('linkifyjs/element');
 var linkifyMatrix = require('../../../linkify-matrix');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 linkifyMatrix(linkify);
 
@@ -212,13 +212,12 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                 roomName = this.props.room.name;
             }
 
-            let roomNameHTML = emojifyText(roomName);
 
             name =
                 <div className="mx_RoomHeader_name" onClick={this.props.onSettingsClick}>
-                    <div className={ "mx_RoomHeader_nametext " + (settingsHint ? "mx_RoomHeader_settingsHint" : "") } title={ roomName } dangerouslySetInnerHTML={roomNameHTML}></div>
+                    <EmojiText element="div" className={ "mx_RoomHeader_nametext " + (settingsHint ? "mx_RoomHeader_settingsHint" : "") } title={ roomName }>{roomName}</EmojiText>
                     { searchStatus }
-                </div>
+                </div>;
         }
 
         if (can_set_room_topic) {
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomTile.js b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomTile.js
index 111ead05b7..95a5981eb0 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomTile.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomTile.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ var dis = require("../../../dispatcher");
 var MatrixClientPeg = require('../../../MatrixClientPeg');
 var sdk = require('../../../index');
 var ContextualMenu = require('../../structures/ContextualMenu');
-import {emojifyText} from '../../../HtmlUtils';
+import EmojiText from '../elements/EmojiText';
 
 module.exports = React.createClass({
     displayName: 'RoomTile',
@@ -196,13 +196,12 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                 'mx_RoomTile_badgeShown': this.props.highlight || (notificationCount > 0 && !this.state.areNotifsMuted) || this.state.badgeHover || this.state.menu,
             });
 
-            let nameHTML = emojifyText(name);
             if (this.props.selected) {
-                let nameSelected = <span dangerouslySetInnerHTML={nameHTML}></span>;
+                let nameSelected = <EmojiText>{name}</EmojiText>;
 
                 label = <div title={ name } className={ nameClasses }>{ nameSelected }</div>;
             } else {
-                label = <div title={ name } className={ nameClasses } dangerouslySetInnerHTML={nameHTML}></div>;
+                label = <EmojiText element="div" title={ name } className={ nameClasses }>{name}</EmojiText>;
             }
         }
         else if (this.state.hover) {