select2 ajax not firing on space input - ajax

Question

I'm using select2 (v4.0.12) with Ajax (remote data) in asp.net core mvc web app. Remote data returns clients (name + surname) and they all contain a space between name and surname.
Everything works great except when a user inputs an empty space. Then the search event is not firing and there is a JS error in the browser Uncaught TypeError: i._removeOldTags is not a function.
I tried setting the tags and multiple to false, but it doesn't help. Is there a setting I'm missing?
The setup is pretty basic:
html select control:
<select class="form-control" id="ddlClients">
<option value="0">... select client ...</option>
</select>
javascript:
$("#ddlClients").select2({
tags: false,
multiple: false,
minimumInputLength: 2,
minimumResultsForSearch: 10,
language: {
inputTooShort: function () {
return 'Enter min 2 chars...';
}
},
ajax: {
url: '/MyController/GetClientsData',
dataType: "json",
type: "GET",
data: function (params) {
var queryParameters = {
term: params.term
}
return queryParameters;
},
processResults: function (data) {
return {
results: $.map(data, function (item) {
return {
text: item.text,
id: item.id
}
})
};
}
}
});
c# (controller)
public IActionResult GetClientsData(string term)
{
var result = GetDataFromMyDb(term)
.Select(x => new
{
id = x.Value,
text = x.Text,
})
.ToList();
return Json(result);
}