diff --git a/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Drawables/ChatLine.cs b/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Drawables/ChatLine.cs
index bfbcf3d707..59e83fd385 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Drawables/ChatLine.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Drawables/ChatLine.cs
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ namespace osu.Game.Online.Chat.Drawables
 
         private Color4 getUsernameColour(Message message)
         {
+            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(message.Sender?.Colour))
+                return OsuColour.FromHex(message.Sender.Colour);
+
             //todo: use User instead of Message when user_id is correctly populated.
             return username_colours[message.UserId % username_colours.Length];
         }
@@ -91,7 +94,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Online.Chat.Drawables
                         new OsuSpriteText
                         {
                             Font = @"Exo2.0-BoldItalic",
-                            Text = $@"{Message.User.Username}:",
+                            Text = $@"{Message.Sender.Username}:",
                             Colour = getUsernameColour(Message),
                             TextSize = text_size,
                             Origin = Anchor.TopRight,
diff --git a/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Message.cs b/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Message.cs
index 2404bbe109..372e43be38 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Message.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Online/Chat/Message.cs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Online.Chat
         public readonly long Id;
 
         //todo: this should be inside sender.
-        [JsonProperty(@"user_id")]
+        [JsonProperty(@"sender_id")]
         public int UserId;
 
         [JsonProperty(@"target_type")]
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Online.Chat
         public string Content;
 
         [JsonProperty(@"sender")]
-        public User User;
+        public User Sender;
 
         [JsonConstructor]
         public Message()
diff --git a/osu.Game/Overlays/ChatOverlay.cs b/osu.Game/Overlays/ChatOverlay.cs
index 5b9d30ee8e..9b3cdaf49d 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Overlays/ChatOverlay.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Overlays/ChatOverlay.cs
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ namespace osu.Game.Overlays
 
                 var message = new Message
                 {
-                    User = api.LocalUser.Value,
+                    Sender = api.LocalUser.Value,
                     Timestamp = DateTimeOffset.Now,
                     TargetType = TargetType.Channel, //TODO: read this from currentChannel
                     TargetId = currentChannel.Id,