diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 519f1c2020..821f1f5d4f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -2514,7 +2514,7 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
 
         clean_args = []
         is_passwd = False
-        for arg in to_clean_args:
+        for arg in (to_native(a) for a in to_clean_args):
             if is_passwd:
                 is_passwd = False
                 clean_args.append('********')