diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/filters.py b/r2/r2/lib/filters.py
index 5c5836466..bc6e9e3c4 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/filters.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/filters.py
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ def _force_unicode(text):
     if text == None:
         return u''
 
+    if isinstance(text, unicode):
+        return text
+
     try:
         text = unicode(text, 'utf-8')
     except UnicodeDecodeError: