diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/unicode.py b/lib/ansible/utils/unicode.py
index 067877c0a72..dbd3ec1e7c1 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/unicode.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/unicode.py
@@ -31,9 +31,7 @@ except ImportError:
 __all__ = ('to_bytes', 'to_unicode', 'to_str', 'unicode_wrap')
 
 
-###
-### Backwards compat
-###
+# Backwards compat
 
 def to_bytes(*args, **kwargs):
     display.deprecated(u'ansible.utils.unicode.to_bytes is deprecated.  Use ansible.module_utils._text.to_bytes instead', version=u'2.4')
@@ -55,7 +53,7 @@ def to_str(*args, **kwargs):
         kwargs['errors'] = 'replace'
     return to_native(*args, **kwargs)
 
-### End Backwards compat
+# End Backwards compat
 
 
 def unicode_wrap(func, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt b/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
index 3fd535f7fcd..4f017aa38cf 100644
--- a/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
+++ b/test/sanity/pep8/legacy-files.txt
@@ -873,7 +873,6 @@ lib/ansible/utils/helpers.py
 lib/ansible/utils/listify.py
 lib/ansible/utils/path.py
 lib/ansible/utils/ssh_functions.py
-lib/ansible/utils/unicode.py
 lib/ansible/utils/vars.py
 lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
 lib/ansible/vars/hostvars.py