diff --git a/Objects/object.c b/Objects/object.c
index 51188b7862b..25e64e1e74a 100644
--- a/Objects/object.c
+++ b/Objects/object.c
@@ -403,6 +403,8 @@ PyObject_Str(PyObject *v)
     if (v == NULL)
         return PyUnicode_FromString("<NULL>");
     if (PyUnicode_CheckExact(v)) {
+        if (PyUnicode_READY(v) < 0)
+            return NULL;
         Py_INCREF(v);
         return v;
     }
@@ -424,6 +426,9 @@ PyObject_Str(PyObject *v)
         Py_DECREF(res);
         return NULL;
     }
+    if (PyUnicode_READY(res) < 0)
+        return NULL;
+    assert(_PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(res, 1));
     return res;
 }
 
diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 7aa5ff0e1a3..1e44357c2fb 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -408,8 +408,6 @@ _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency(PyObject *op, int check_content)
             assert(maxchar <= 0x10FFFF);
         }
     }
-    if (check_content && !unicode_is_singleton(op))
-        assert(ascii->hash == -1);
     return 1;
 }
 #endif