diff --git a/sopel/modules/tell.py b/sopel/modules/tell.py
index 2a2717511a..0272ffc2fc 100644
--- a/sopel/modules/tell.py
+++ b/sopel/modules/tell.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import io  # don't use `codecs` for loading the DB; it will split lines on some IRC formatting
 import logging
 import os
+import sys
 import threading
 import time
 import unicodedata
@@ -22,6 +23,10 @@
 from sopel.tools.time import format_time, get_timezone
 
 
+if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
+    unicode = str
+
+
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -141,7 +146,7 @@ def _format_safe_lstrip(text):
     Stolen and tweaked from the ``choose`` plugin's ``_format_safe()``
     function by the person who wrote it.
     """
-    if not isinstance(text, str):
+    if not isinstance(text, unicode):
         raise TypeError("A string is required.")
     elif not text:
         # unnecessary optimization
diff --git a/test/modules/test_modules_tell.py b/test/modules/test_modules_tell.py
index 9c4d6de3c7..976675da70 100644
--- a/test/modules/test_modules_tell.py
+++ b/test/modules/test_modules_tell.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import datetime
 import io
 import os
+import sys
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -12,6 +13,10 @@
 from sopel.modules import tell
 
 
+if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
+    unicode = str
+
+
 def test_load_reminders_empty(tmpdir):
     tmpfile = tmpdir.join('tell.db')
     tmpfile.write('\n')