diff --git a/class.json-api-endpoints.php b/class.json-api-endpoints.php
index 2819de593720c..8fd4e65fe3a95 100644
--- a/class.json-api-endpoints.php
+++ b/class.json-api-endpoints.php
@@ -1533,16 +1533,17 @@ function format_date( $date_gmt, $date = null ) {
 	 * relative to now and will convert it to local time using either the
 	 * timezone set in the options table for the blog or the GMT offset.
 	 *
-	 * @param datetime string
+	 * @param datetime string $date_string Date to parse.
 	 *
 	 * @return array( $local_time_string, $gmt_time_string )
 	 */
-	function parse_date( $date_string ) {
+	public function parse_date( $date_string ) {
 		$date_string_info = date_parse( $date_string );
 		if ( is_array( $date_string_info ) && 0 === $date_string_info['error_count'] ) {
 			// Check if it's already localized. Can't just check is_localtime because date_parse('oppossum') returns true; WTF, PHP.
 			if ( isset( $date_string_info['zone'] ) && true === $date_string_info['is_localtime'] ) {
-				$dt_local = clone $dt_utc = new DateTime( $date_string );
+				$dt_utc   = new DateTime( $date_string );
+				$dt_local = $dt_utc;
 				$dt_utc->setTimezone( new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
 				return array(
 					(string) $dt_local->format( 'Y-m-d H:i:s' ),
@@ -1550,11 +1551,13 @@ function parse_date( $date_string ) {
 				);
 			}
 
-			// It's parseable but no TZ info so assume UTC
-			$dt_local = clone $dt_utc = new DateTime( $date_string, new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
+			// It's parseable but no TZ info so assume UTC.
+			$dt_utc   = new DateTime( $date_string, new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
+			$dt_local = new DateTime( $date_string, new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
 		} else {
-			// Could not parse time, use now in UTC
-			$dt_local = clone $dt_utc = new DateTime( 'now', new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
+			// Could not parse time, use now in UTC.
+			$dt_utc   = new DateTime( 'now', new DateTimeZone( 'UTC' ) );
+			$dt_local = $dt_utc;
 		}
 
 		$dt_local->setTimezone( wp_timezone() );
@@ -1562,7 +1565,7 @@ function parse_date( $date_string ) {
 		return array(
 			(string) $dt_local->format( 'Y-m-d H:i:s' ),
 			(string) $dt_utc->format( 'Y-m-d H:i:s' ),
-			);
+		);
 	}
 
 	// Load the functions.php file for the current theme to get its post formats, CPTs, etc.
diff --git a/functions.global.php b/functions.global.php
index ca6b8132821d7..9d983fd99ffe0 100644
--- a/functions.global.php
+++ b/functions.global.php
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 	exit;
 }
 
-if ( ! function_exists( wp_timezone ) ) {
+if ( ! function_exists( 'wp_timezone' ) ) {
 	/**
 	 * Shim for WordPress 5.3's wp_timezone() function.
 	 *