diff --git a/mlair/helpers/helpers.py b/mlair/helpers/helpers.py
index 981999fbc111f133cdce1b182e8147f0d9bf6807..1f5a86cde01752b74be82476e2e0fd8cad514a9e 100644
--- a/mlair/helpers/helpers.py
+++ b/mlair/helpers/helpers.py
@@ -81,8 +81,10 @@ def remove_items(obj: Union[List, Dict, Tuple], items: Any):
 
     def remove_from_list(list_obj, item_list):
         """Remove implementation for lists."""
-        if len(items) > 1:
+        if len(item_list) > 1:
             return [e for e in list_obj if e not in item_list]
+        elif len(item_list) == 0:
+            return list_obj
         else:
             list_obj = list_obj.copy()
             try:
@@ -96,8 +98,6 @@ def remove_items(obj: Union[List, Dict, Tuple], items: Any):
         return {k: v for k, v in dict_obj.items() if k not in key_list}
 
     items = to_list(items)
-    if len(items) == 0:
-        return obj
     if isinstance(obj, list):
         return remove_from_list(obj, items)
     elif isinstance(obj, dict):