diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/template.py b/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
index 2fefe9bd7a..fd135b0b39 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/template.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ def _varFind(basedir, text, vars, lookup_fatal, depth, expand_lists):
             try:
                 replacement = instance.run(args, inject=vars)
                 if expand_lists:
-                    replacement = u",".join([unicode(x) for x in replacement])
+                    replacement = ",".join([str(x) for x in replacement])
             except:
                 if not lookup_fatal:
                     replacement = None