diff --git a/module_utils/sensu_go.py b/module_utils/sensu_go.py
index 735987b..0155005 100755
--- a/module_utils/sensu_go.py
+++ b/module_utils/sensu_go.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ def request(self, url, method="GET", data=None):
         if resp and info['status'] not in [201, 204]:
             response = resp.read()
             try:
-                return json.loads(response), info
+                return json.loads(response.decode('utf-8')), info
             except Exception as e:
                 self.fail_json(
                     msg='Failed to parse response as JSON: {0}'.format(info),