diff --git a/pkg/buses/message_dispatcher.go b/pkg/buses/message_dispatcher.go
index ee5faeadafb..64b66974f35 100644
--- a/pkg/buses/message_dispatcher.go
+++ b/pkg/buses/message_dispatcher.go
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ import (
 
 // MessageDispatcher dispatches messages to a destination over HTTP.
 type MessageDispatcher struct {
-	httpClient      *http.Client
-	forwardHeaders  map[string]bool
-	forwardPrefixes []string
+	httpClient       *http.Client
+	forwardHeaders   map[string]bool
+	forwardPrefixes  []string
+	supportedSchemes map[string]bool
 }
 
 // NewMessageDispatcher creates a new message dispatcher that can dispatch
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ func NewMessageDispatcher() *MessageDispatcher {
 		httpClient:      &http.Client{},
 		forwardHeaders:  headerSet(forwardHeaders),
 		forwardPrefixes: forwardPrefixes,
+		supportedSchemes: map[string]bool{
+			"http":  true,
+			"https": true,
+		},
 	}
 }
 
@@ -47,12 +52,7 @@ func NewMessageDispatcher() *MessageDispatcher {
 // default namespace is used to expand the destination into a fully qualified
 // name within the cluster.
 func (d *MessageDispatcher) DispatchMessage(destination string, defaultNamespace string, message *Message) error {
-	destination = d.resolveDestination(destination, defaultNamespace)
-	url := url.URL{
-		Scheme: "http",
-		Host:   destination,
-		Path:   "/",
-	}
+	url := d.resolveURL(destination, defaultNamespace)
 	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, url.String(), bytes.NewReader(message.Payload))
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("Unable to create request %v", err)
@@ -87,9 +87,17 @@ func (d *MessageDispatcher) toHTTPHeaders(headers map[string]string) http.Header
 	return safe
 }
 
-func (d *MessageDispatcher) resolveDestination(destination string, defaultNamespace string) string {
+func (d *MessageDispatcher) resolveURL(destination string, defaultNamespace string) *url.URL {
+	if url, err := url.Parse(destination); err == nil && d.supportedSchemes[url.Scheme] {
+		// already a URL with a known scheme
+		return url
+	}
 	if strings.Index(destination, ".") == -1 {
 		destination = fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s.svc.cluster.local", destination, defaultNamespace)
 	}
-	return destination
+	return &url.URL{
+		Scheme: "http",
+		Host:   destination,
+		Path:   "/",
+	}
 }