diff --git a/tools/pr.py b/tools/pr.py
index c556a07a6..62b88809d 100644
--- a/tools/pr.py
+++ b/tools/pr.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ if response.status_code == 200:
 
     p = subprocess.Popen('git show --format=format:%h'.split(), stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
     comm = p.communicate()
-    stdout = comm[0]
+    stdout = comm[0].decode(encoding='utf-8', errors='ignore')
     if stdout.find('\n') > 0:
         stdout = stdout[:stdout.find('\n')]
     print('\nMessage: I merged this with ' + stdout)