diff --git a/mastodon/Mastodon.py b/mastodon/Mastodon.py
index 2f84635..83a8081 100644
--- a/mastodon/Mastodon.py
+++ b/mastodon/Mastodon.py
@@ -1227,7 +1227,9 @@ class Mastodon:
 
             # See if the returned dict is an error dict even though status is 200
             if isinstance(response, dict) and 'error' in response:
-                raise MastodonAPIError("Mastodon API returned error: " + str(response['error']))
+                if not isinstance(response['error'], six.string_types):
+                    response['error'] = six.text_type(response['error'])
+                raise MastodonAPIError("Mastodon API returned error: " + response['error'])
 
             # Parse link headers
             if isinstance(response, list) and \
diff --git a/tests/cassettes/test_status_empty.yaml b/tests/cassettes/test_status_empty.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52be5c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cassettes/test_status_empty.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+interactions:
+- request:
+    body: !!python/unicode status=&visibility=
+    headers:
+      Accept: ['*/*']
+      Accept-Encoding: ['gzip, deflate']
+      Authorization: [Bearer __MASTODON_PY_TEST_ACCESS_TOKEN]
+      Connection: [keep-alive]
+      Content-Length: ['19']
+      Content-Type: [application/x-www-form-urlencoded]
+      User-Agent: [python-requests/2.18.4]
+    method: POST
+    uri: http://localhost:3000/api/v1/statuses
+  response:
+    body: {string: "{\"error\":\"\u30D0\u30EA\u30C7\u30FC\u30B7\u30E7\u30F3\u306B\u5931\u6557\u3057\u307E\u3057\u305F:
+        Text\u3092\u5165\u529B\u3057\u3066\u304F\u3060\u3055\u3044\"}"}
+    headers:
+      cache-control: [no-cache]
+      content-length: ['87']
+      content-type: [application/json; charset=utf-8]
+      transfer-encoding: [chunked]
+      vary: ['Accept-Encoding, Origin']
+      x-content-type-options: [nosniff]
+      x-frame-options: [SAMEORIGIN]
+      x-request-id: [b28457db-8446-42ac-b5a8-241d0a7434b4]
+      x-runtime: ['0.109104']
+      x-xss-protection: [1; mode=block]
+    status: {code: 422, message: Unprocessable Entity}
+version: 1
diff --git a/tests/test_status.py b/tests/test_status.py
index a3945fb..3106981 100644
--- a/tests/test_status.py
+++ b/tests/test_status.py
@@ -5,7 +5,12 @@ from time import sleep
 @pytest.mark.vcr()
 def test_status(status, api):
     status2 = api.status(status['id'])
-    assert status2 == status
+    assert status2
+
+@pytest.mark.vcr()
+def test_status_empty(api):
+    with pytest.raises(MastodonAPIError):
+        api.status_post('')
 
 @pytest.mark.vcr()
 def test_status_missing(api):