diff --git a/ddtrace/contrib/celery/signals.py b/ddtrace/contrib/celery/signals.py
index e16f5ecace..467d0244e9 100644
--- a/ddtrace/contrib/celery/signals.py
+++ b/ddtrace/contrib/celery/signals.py
@@ -199,7 +199,12 @@ def trace_failure(*args, **kwargs):
             if isinstance(original_exception, task.throws):
                 return
 
-        span.set_exc_info(ex.type, ex.exception, ex.tb)
+        # ensure we are getting the actual exception class which stores the exception message
+        exc = ex.exception
+        if hasattr(exc, "exc"):
+            exc = exc.exc
+
+        span.set_exc_info(ex.type, exc, ex.tb)
 
 
 def trace_retry(*args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-celery-error-messages-to-not-include-traceback-98259864e85be54f.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-celery-error-messages-to-not-include-traceback-98259864e85be54f.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1161918ace
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-celery-error-messages-to-not-include-traceback-98259864e85be54f.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    celery: changes ``error.message`` span tag to no longer include the traceback that is already included in the ``error.stack`` span tag.
diff --git a/tests/contrib/celery/test_integration.py b/tests/contrib/celery/test_integration.py
index 8210ad634c..267789d325 100644
--- a/tests/contrib/celery/test_integration.py
+++ b/tests/contrib/celery/test_integration.py
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ def fn_exception():
         assert span.error == 1
         assert span.get_tag("component") == "celery"
         assert span.get_tag("span.kind") == "consumer"
-        assert "Task class is failing" in span.get_tag(ERROR_MSG)
+        assert span.get_tag(ERROR_MSG) == "Task class is failing"
         assert "Traceback (most recent call last)" in span.get_tag("error.stack")
         assert "Task class is failing" in span.get_tag("error.stack")
 
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ def run(self):
         assert span.get_tag("celery.state") == "FAILURE"
         assert span.error == 1
         assert span.get_tag("component") == "celery"
-        assert "Task class is failing" in span.get_tag(ERROR_MSG)
+        assert span.get_tag(ERROR_MSG) == "Task class is failing"
         assert "Traceback (most recent call last)" in span.get_tag("error.stack")
         assert "Task class is failing" in span.get_tag("error.stack")
         assert span.get_tag("span.kind") == "consumer"