diff --git a/lib/utils/purge.py b/lib/utils/purge.py
index e1f891cff..97b1aaa75 100644
--- a/lib/utils/purge.py
+++ b/lib/utils/purge.py
@@ -79,4 +79,4 @@ def purge(directory):
     try:
         shutil.rmtree(directory)
     except OSError, ex:
-        logger.error("problem occurred while removing directory '%s' ('%s')" % (directory, ex))
+        logger.error("problem occurred while removing directory '%s' ('%s')" % (directory, unicode(ex)))