diff --git a/ipykernel/ipkernel.py b/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
index 8bd8433a6..f9125b992 100644
--- a/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
+++ b/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 import sys
 
 from IPython.core import release
-from ipython_genutils.py3compat import safe_unicode
 from IPython.utils.tokenutil import token_at_cursor, line_at_cursor
 from tornado import gen
 from traitlets import Instance, Type, Any, List, Bool, observe, observe_compat
@@ -351,7 +350,7 @@ def run_cell(*args, **kwargs):
             reply_content.update({
                 'traceback': shell._last_traceback or [],
                 'ename': str(type(err).__name__),
-                'evalue': safe_unicode(err),
+                'evalue': str(err),
             })
 
             # FIXME: deprecated piece for ipyparallel (remove in 5.0):
diff --git a/ipykernel/zmqshell.py b/ipykernel/zmqshell.py
index 8c9cfecce..2dcb8b349 100644
--- a/ipykernel/zmqshell.py
+++ b/ipykernel/zmqshell.py
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 from IPython.utils import openpy
 from ipykernel.jsonutil import json_clean, encode_images
 from IPython.utils.process import arg_split, system
-from ipython_genutils import py3compat
 from traitlets import (
     Instance, Type, Dict, CBool, CBytes, Any, default, observe
 )
@@ -546,7 +545,7 @@ def _showtraceback(self, etype, evalue, stb):
         exc_content = {
             'traceback' : stb,
             'ename' : str(etype.__name__),
-            'evalue' : py3compat.safe_unicode(evalue),
+            'evalue' : str(evalue),
         }
 
         dh = self.displayhook