- if ( false !== $author && $redirect_url = get_author_posts_url($author->ID, $author->user_nicename) )
- $redirect['query'] = remove_query_arg('author', $redirect['query']);
+ if ( ( false !== $author ) && $wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT ID FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE $wpdb->posts.post_author = %d AND $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish' LIMIT 1", $author->ID ) ) ) {
+ if ( $redirect_url = get_author_posts_url($author->ID, $author->user_nicename) )
+ $redirect['query'] = remove_query_arg('author', $redirect['query']);
+ }