diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/display-display-str-only.yml b/changelogs/fragments/display-display-str-only.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..af3061098f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/display-display-str-only.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- Perform type check on data passed to Display.display to enforce the requirement of being given a python3 unicode string
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
index 16966aaf0d7..b4ff01c0060 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ class Display(metaclass=Singleton):
         Note: msg *must* be a unicode string to prevent UnicodeError tracebacks.
         """
 
+        if not isinstance(msg, str):
+            raise TypeError(f'Display message must be str, not: {msg.__class__.__name__}')
+
         if self._final_q:
             # If _final_q is set, that means we are in a WorkerProcess
             # and instead of displaying messages directly from the fork