Strange behaviour of java

Hi there, I noticed this issue of the java compiler and cant understand why .. ? So if there is an empty element in the array, it does not goes to the if statement?? {"", "", "", "sam","i","am."} array[i].equals(empty) || array[i].equals(empty1)

BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        String s = reader.readLine();
        s = s.toLowerCase();
        String[] array = s.split(" ");
        List<String> list1 = new ArrayList<>();
        String empty = "";
        String empty1 = " ";
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {

            if (array[i].equals(empty) || array[i].equals(empty1)) {

                continue;
            }
            else {
                list1.add(array[i]);
            }
        }

        for (String element:list1) {

            System.out.println(element);
        }