diff --git a/library/async_status b/library/async_status
index ef5dbe06e0d..e249fdeb8b0 100644
--- a/library/async_status
+++ b/library/async_status
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ author: Michael DeHaan
 
 import datetime
 import traceback
+import sys
 
 def main():
 
@@ -89,6 +90,13 @@ def main():
     if not 'started' in data:
         data['finished'] = 1
         data['ansible_job_id'] = jid
+	
+	# Fix error: TypeError: exit_json() keywords must be strings
+	if sys.version_info[0] == 2 and sys.version_info[1] < 6:
+		for k in data.keys():
+			v = data[k]
+			del data[k]
+			data[str(k)] = v
     module.exit_json(**data)
 
 # this is magic, see lib/ansible/module_common.py