diff --git a/Python/_warnings.c b/Python/_warnings.c
index e75d4fd..6603bf0 100644
--- a/Python/_warnings.c
+++ b/Python/_warnings.c
@@ -408,8 +408,10 @@
                 /* A proper implementation of warnings.showwarning() should
                     have at least two default arguments. */
                 if ((defaults == NULL) || (PyTuple_Size(defaults) < 2)) {
-                    if (PyErr_WarnEx(PyExc_DeprecationWarning, msg, 1) < 0)
+                    if (PyErr_WarnEx(PyExc_DeprecationWarning, msg, 1) < 0) {
+                        Py_DECREF(show_fxn);
                         goto cleanup;
+                    }
                 }
                 res = PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs(show_fxn, message, category,
                                                     filename, lineno_obj,