diff --git a/src/events/SDL_events.c b/src/events/SDL_events.c
index a8ac576bc4..06f1053cf6 100644
--- a/src/events/SDL_events.c
+++ b/src/events/SDL_events.c
@@ -1726,6 +1726,10 @@ bool SDL_WaitEventTimeoutNS(SDL_Event *event, Sint64 timeoutNS)
         }
     } else {
         // Has existing events
+        if (!event) {
+            // The application expects callbacks to run even if events are pending
+            SDL_RunMainThreadCallbacks();
+        }
         return true;
     }
     // We should have completely handled timeoutNS == 0 above