diff --git a/lib/player.js b/lib/player.js
index 2da180088c..2fe9f46df8 100644
--- a/lib/player.js
+++ b/lib/player.js
@@ -6869,6 +6869,11 @@ shaka.Player = class extends shaka.util.FakeEventTarget {
       return;
     }
 
+    // We don't want to block the user from pausing the stream.
+    if (this.video_.paused) {
+      return;
+    }
+
     let targetLatency;
     let maxLatency;
     let maxPlaybackRate;