diff --git a/common/events.go b/common/events.go
index c0189b469..19c929f94 100644
--- a/common/events.go
+++ b/common/events.go
@@ -135,3 +135,12 @@ func AddPrevEventsToEvent(
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+// RemoveEventHeaders unwraps an array of headered events.
+func RemoveEventHeaders(in []gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent) []gomatrixserverlib.Event {
+	result := make([]gomatrixserverlib.Event, len(in))
+	for i := range in {
+		result[i] = in[i].Event
+	}
+	return result
+}
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/join.go b/federationapi/routing/join.go
index e2b6c1733..d88ef6af5 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/join.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/join.go
@@ -219,8 +219,8 @@ func SendJoin(
 	return util.JSONResponse{
 		Code: http.StatusOK,
 		JSON: map[string]interface{}{
-			"state":      stateAndAuthChainResponse.StateEvents,
-			"auth_chain": stateAndAuthChainResponse.AuthChainEvents,
+			"state":      common.RemoveEventHeaders(stateAndAuthChainResponse.StateEvents),
+			"auth_chain": common.RemoveEventHeaders(stateAndAuthChainResponse.AuthChainEvents),
 		},
 	}
 }
diff --git a/federationapi/routing/state.go b/federationapi/routing/state.go
index 86a1e08d2..d0090d7b7 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/state.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/state.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/clientapi/jsonerror"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/common"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/api"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/util"
@@ -129,17 +130,9 @@ func getState(
 		return nil, &util.JSONResponse{Code: http.StatusNotFound, JSON: nil}
 	}
 
-	var stateEvents, authEvents []gomatrixserverlib.Event
-	for _, headeredEvent := range response.StateEvents {
-		stateEvents = append(stateEvents, headeredEvent.Event)
-	}
-	for _, headeredEvent := range response.AuthChainEvents {
-		authEvents = append(authEvents, headeredEvent.Event)
-	}
-
 	return &gomatrixserverlib.RespState{
-		StateEvents: stateEvents,
-		AuthEvents:  authEvents,
+		StateEvents: common.RemoveEventHeaders(response.StateEvents),
+		AuthEvents:  common.RemoveEventHeaders(response.AuthChainEvents),
 	}, nil
 }