diff --git a/tests/pylorax/test_server.py b/tests/pylorax/test_server.py
index 435f5224..9a23f534 100644
--- a/tests/pylorax/test_server.py
+++ b/tests/pylorax/test_server.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ from pylorax.api.dnfbase import get_base_object
 from pylorax.sysutils import joinpaths
 
 # Used for testing UTF-8 input support
-UTF8_TEST_STRING = "I ｗ𝒊ll 𝟉ο𝘁 𝛠ａ𝔰ꜱ 𝘁𝒉𝝸𝚜".decode("utf-8")
+UTF8_TEST_STRING = "I ｗ𝒊ll 𝟉ο𝘁 𝛠ａ𝔰ꜱ 𝘁𝒉𝝸𝚜"
 
 def get_system_repo():
     """Get an enabled system repo from /etc/yum.repos.d/*repo