diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
index c3a95251a2b2..f57958f7af99 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
@@ -805,6 +805,18 @@ class _VirtDriverTestCase(_FakeDriverBackendTestCase):
 
         self.connection.emit_event(event1)
 
+    def test_emit_unicode_event(self):
+        """Tests that we do not fail on translated unicode events."""
+        started_event = virtevent.LifecycleEvent(
+            "cef19ce0-0ca2-11df-855d-b19fbce37686",
+            virtevent.EVENT_LIFECYCLE_STARTED)
+        callback = mock.Mock()
+        self.connection.register_event_listener(callback)
+        with mock.patch.object(started_event, 'get_name',
+                               return_value=u'\xF0\x9F\x92\xA9'):
+            self.connection.emit_event(started_event)
+        callback.assert_called_once_with(started_event)
+
     def test_set_bootable(self):
         self.assertRaises(NotImplementedError, self.connection.set_bootable,
                           'instance', True)
diff --git a/nova/virt/driver.py b/nova/virt/driver.py
index ef8272712476..fd0be49ad678 100644
--- a/nova/virt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/driver.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import sys
 
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 from oslo_utils import importutils
+import six
 
 import nova.conf
 from nova.i18n import _, _LE, _LI
@@ -1432,7 +1433,7 @@ class ComputeDriver(object):
         """
 
         if not self._compute_event_callback:
-            LOG.debug("Discarding event %s", str(event))
+            LOG.debug("Discarding event %s", six.text_type(event))
             return
 
         if not isinstance(event, virtevent.Event):
@@ -1440,7 +1441,7 @@ class ComputeDriver(object):
                 _("Event must be an instance of nova.virt.event.Event"))
 
         try:
-            LOG.debug("Emitting event %s", str(event))
+            LOG.debug("Emitting event %s", six.text_type(event))
             self._compute_event_callback(event)
         except Exception as ex:
             LOG.error(_LE("Exception dispatching event %(event)s: %(ex)s"),