diff --git a/app/controllers/articles_controller.rb b/app/controllers/articles_controller.rb
index 55b36df3e..9834c6734 100644
--- a/app/controllers/articles_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/articles_controller.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
   #
   #              I still want to enable this, but first want to get things mostly conformant with
   #              existing expectations.  Note, in config/application.rb, we're rescuing the below
-  #              excpetion as though it was a Pundit::NotAuthorizedError.
+  #              exception as though it was a Pundit::NotAuthorizedError.
   #
   #              The difference being that rescue_from is an ALWAYS use case.  Whereas the
   #              config/application.rb uses the config.consider_all_requests_local to determine if
diff --git a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
index 88e54b99b..3fa54cd5b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
@@ -82,11 +82,15 @@ class CommentsController < ApplicationController
       message = @comment.errors_as_sentence
       render json: { error: message }, status: :unprocessable_entity
     end
+
   # See https://github.com/forem/forem/pull/5485#discussion_r366056925
   # for details as to why this is necessary
   rescue ModerationUnauthorizedError => e
     render json: { error: e.message }, status: :unprocessable_entity
-  rescue Pundit::NotAuthorizedError, RateLimitChecker::LimitReached
+  rescue Pundit::NotAuthorizedError => e
+    message = I18n.t("comments_controller.create.authorization_error", error: e)
+    render json: { error: message }, status: :unauthorized
+  rescue RateLimitChecker::LimitReached
     raise
   rescue StandardError => e
     skip_authorization
diff --git a/config/locales/controllers/en.yml b/config/locales/controllers/en.yml
index 0e6217cd2..fcb5f6e94 100644
--- a/config/locales/controllers/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/controllers/en.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ en:
     create:
       success: created
       failure: comment already exists
+      authorization_error: Your privileges have been suspended.
     delete:
       error: Something went wrong; Comment NOT deleted.
       notice: Comment was successfully deleted.
diff --git a/config/locales/controllers/fr.yml b/config/locales/controllers/fr.yml
index 613e0e583..1996c5775 100644
--- a/config/locales/controllers/fr.yml
+++ b/config/locales/controllers/fr.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ fr:
     create:
       success: created
       failure: comment already exists
+      authorization_error: Your privileges have been suspended.
     delete:
       error: Something went wrong; Comment NOT deleted.
       notice: Comment was successfully deleted.
diff --git a/spec/requests/comments_spec.rb b/spec/requests/comments_spec.rb
index 2a2821b7a..0ee817059 100644
--- a/spec/requests/comments_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/comments_spec.rb
@@ -319,6 +319,18 @@ RSpec.describe "Comments", type: :request do
       }
     end
 
+    context "when a user is coment_suspended" do
+      before do
+        sign_in user
+        user.add_role(:comment_suspended)
+      end
+
+      it "returns not authorized" do
+        post "/comments", params: base_comment_params
+        expect(response).to have_http_status(:unauthorized)
+      end
+    end
+
     context "when part of field test" do
       before do
         sign_in user