diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 4d3e61613ab71787c99469201d846254ae151f81..3713751cf63938aaba9b168669b971abab823a3f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ publish_release:
   script:
     - echo "running release_job for $TAG"
   release:
-    tag_name: '$VERSION'
-    description: '$VERSION'
-    ref: '$CI_COMMIT_SHA'
+    tag_name: "$VERSION"
+    description: "Release created using the release-cli."
+    ref: "$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
+  allow_failure: true