diff --git a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
index f2936bae6..747c0c050 100644
--- a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
+++ b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ except ImportError as ex:
     core = DeferredError.new(ex)
 
 
-def _string_length_check(text: str | bytes) -> None:
+def _string_length_check(text: str) -> None:
     if MAX_STRING_LENGTH is not None and len(text) > MAX_STRING_LENGTH:
         msg = "too many characters in string"
         raise ValueError(msg)