diff --git a/.vale/templates/bot-comment-output.tmpl b/.vale/templates/bot-comment-output.tmpl
index 96fceebbd2cd..4b1ae38871c1 100644
--- a/.vale/templates/bot-comment-output.tmpl
+++ b/.vale/templates/bot-comment-output.tmpl
@@ -29,7 +29,12 @@
         {{- /* Variables setup */ -}}
         {{- $loc := printf "%d" .Line -}}
         {{- $check := printf "%s" .Check -}}
-        {{- $message := printf "%s" .Message -}}
+        {{- /* Escape special characters for valid JSON */ -}}
+        {{- $message := replace "\\" "\\\\" (printf "%s" .Message) -}}
+        {{- $message = replace "\"" "\\\"" $message -}}
+        {{- $message = replace "\n" "\\n" $message -}}
+        {{- $message = replace "\r" "\\r" $message -}}
+        {{- $message = replace "\t" "\\t" $message -}}
         {{- /* Only add a link for RedHat rule errors */ -}}
         {{- $link := "" -}}
         {{- if contains "RedHat." .Check -}}
@@ -45,4 +50,5 @@
         }
     {{end -}}
 {{end -}}
-]
\ No newline at end of file
+]
+
diff --git a/scripts/prow-vale-review.sh b/scripts/prow-vale-review.sh
index e5be79d731eb..4338b0ebf872 100755
--- a/scripts/prow-vale-review.sh
+++ b/scripts/prow-vale-review.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,18 @@ function post_review_comment {
     BODY=$1
     FILENAME=$2
     echo "Sending review comment curl request..."
-    curl -L -X POST -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_AUTH_TOKEN" -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" https://api.github.com/repos/openshift/openshift-docs/pulls/$PULL_NUMBER/comments -d '{"body":"'"$BODY"'","commit_id":"'"$COMMIT_ID"'","path":"'"$FILENAME"'","line":'"$LINE_NUMBER"',"side":"RIGHT"}'
+    # Use jq to excruciatingly craft JSON payload
+    # jq -n because we're constructing from scratch per https://jqlang.org/manual/
+    # --arg for string, --argjson for integer
+    # body constructed from https://docs.github.com/en/rest/pulls/comments?apiVersion=2022-11-28#create-a-review-comment-for-a-pull-request
+    payload=$(jq -n \
+        --arg body "$BODY" \
+        --arg commit_id "$COMMIT_ID" \
+        --arg path "$FILENAME" \
+        --argjson line "$LINE_NUMBER" \
+        '{body: $body, commit_id: $commit_id, path: $path, line: $line, side: "RIGHT"}')
+    echo "DEBUG payload:" "$payload"
+    curl -L -X POST -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_AUTH_TOKEN" -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" https://api.github.com/repos/openshift/openshift-docs/pulls/$PULL_NUMBER/comments -d "$payload"
 
 }
 
@@ -132,4 +143,5 @@ do
 
     done
 
-done
\ No newline at end of file
+done
+