diff --git a/websockify/token_plugins.py b/websockify/token_plugins.py
index 03800e7..3142279 100644
--- a/websockify/token_plugins.py
+++ b/websockify/token_plugins.py
@@ -154,6 +154,6 @@ class TokenRedis(object):
         if stuff is None:
             return None
         else:
-            combo = simplejson.loads(stuff.decode("utf-8"))
+            combo = simplejson.loads(stuff)
             pair = combo["host"]
             return pair.split(':')