diff --git a/Objects/typeobject.c b/Objects/typeobject.c
index 55fd450c46a..3b1d1891954 100644
--- a/Objects/typeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/typeobject.c
@@ -5342,7 +5342,7 @@ tp_new_wrapper(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
                      "%s.__new__(%s) is not safe, use %s.__new__()",
                      type->tp_name,
                      subtype->tp_name,
-                     staticbase == NULL ? "?" : staticbase->tp_name);
+                     staticbase->tp_name);
         return NULL;
     }