diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 5dd89c4..c5acd1b 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -1076,7 +1076,13 @@
     if (PyString_Check(obj)) {
 	    s = PyString_AS_STRING(obj);
 	    len = PyString_GET_SIZE(obj);
-	    }
+    }
+    else if (PyBytes_Check(obj)) {
+        /* Python 2.x specific */
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
+                     "decoding bytearray is not supported");
+        return NULL;
+    }
     else if (PyObject_AsCharBuffer(obj, &s, &len)) {
 	/* Overwrite the error message with something more useful in
 	   case of a TypeError. */