diff --git a/lib/jets/controller/request/compat/params.rb b/lib/jets/controller/request/compat/params.rb
index 950e4e81c..13bc869b0 100644
--- a/lib/jets/controller/request/compat/params.rb
+++ b/lib/jets/controller/request/compat/params.rb
@@ -123,7 +123,8 @@ def multipart_options(data, boundary = "AaB03x")
     end
 
     def parse_json(text)
-      JSON.parse(text)
+      json = JSON.parse(text)
+      json.is_a?(Hash) ? json : { _json: json }
     rescue JSON::ParserError
       nil
     end