diff --git a/plugins/RSS/plugin.py b/plugins/RSS/plugin.py
index 9482598a1..b8c81a011 100644
--- a/plugins/RSS/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/RSS/plugin.py
@@ -150,15 +150,15 @@ class RSS(callbacks.Plugin):
                 if headline[2]:
                     pubDate = ' [%s]' % (headline[2],)
             if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-                try:
-                    import charade.universaldetector
-                    u = charade.universaldetector.UniversalDetector()
-                    u.feed(headline[0])
-                    u.close()
-                    encoding = u.result['encoding']
-                except ImportError:
-                    encoding = 'utf8'
                 if isinstance(headline[0], unicode):
+                    try:
+                        import charade.universaldetector
+                        u = charade.universaldetector.UniversalDetector()
+                        u.feed(headline[0])
+                        u.close()
+                        encoding = u.result['encoding']
+                    except ImportError:
+                        encoding = 'utf8'
                     newheadlines.append(format('%s %u%s',
                                                 headline[0].encode(encoding,'replace'),
                                                 link,