diff --git a/extensions-core/avro-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/data/input/avro/GenericAvroJsonProvider.java b/extensions-core/avro-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/data/input/avro/GenericAvroJsonProvider.java
index 4beb7578dcd7..bfb6e2224a98 100644
--- a/extensions-core/avro-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/data/input/avro/GenericAvroJsonProvider.java
+++ b/extensions-core/avro-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/data/input/avro/GenericAvroJsonProvider.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.json.JsonProvider;
 import org.apache.avro.Schema;
 import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecord;
+import org.apache.avro.util.Utf8;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -146,7 +147,13 @@ public Object getMapValue(final Object o, final String s)
     } else if (o instanceof GenericRecord) {
       return ((GenericRecord) o).get(s);
     } else if (o instanceof Map) {
-      return ((Map) o).get(s);
+      final Map theMap = (Map) o;
+      if (theMap.containsKey(s)) {
+        return theMap.get(s);
+      } else {
+        final Utf8 utf8Key = new Utf8(s);
+        return theMap.get(utf8Key);
+      }
     } else {
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(o.getClass().getName());
     }