diff --git a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php
index e185ceb40e..bbc6fe2d66 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php
@@ -481,8 +481,7 @@ class WP_Comment_Query {
 		$_comments = apply_filters_ref_array( 'the_comments', array( $_comments, &$this ) );
 
 		// Convert to WP_Comment instances.
-		array_walk( $_comments, 'get_comment' );
-		$comments = $_comments;
+		$comments = array_map( 'get_comment', $_comments );
 
 		if ( $this->query_vars['hierarchical'] ) {
 			$comments = $this->fill_descendants( $comments );
diff --git a/src/wp-includes/comment.php b/src/wp-includes/comment.php
index 150acd6f1a..10e9d864ad 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ function get_approved_comments( $post_id, $args = array() ) {
  *                                       respectively. Default OBJECT.
  * @return WP_Comment|array|null Depends on $output value.
  */
-function get_comment( &$comment = null, $output = OBJECT ) {
+function get_comment( $comment = null, $output = OBJECT ) {
 	if ( empty( $comment ) && isset( $GLOBALS['comment'] ) ) {
 		$comment = $GLOBALS['comment'];
 	}