diff --git a/core/src/lib/message.cc b/core/src/lib/message.cc
index 7bfaf093e2c..647b0466bdf 100644
--- a/core/src/lib/message.cc
+++ b/core/src/lib/message.cc
@@ -1568,7 +1568,7 @@ void Qmsg(JobControlRecord* jcr, int type, utime_t mtime, const char* fmt, ...)
   // If no jcr  or no JobId or no queue or dequeuing send to syslog
   if (!jcr || !jcr->JobId || !jcr->msg_queue || jcr->dequeuing_msgs) {
     syslog(LOG_DAEMON | LOG_ERR, "%s", item->msg_);
-    free(const_cast<char*>(item->msg_));
+    free(item->msg_);
     item->msg_ = nullptr;
     free(item);
   } else {
@@ -1590,7 +1590,7 @@ void DequeueMessages(JobControlRecord* jcr)
   jcr->dequeuing_msgs = true;
   foreach_dlist (item, jcr->msg_queue) {
     Jmsg(jcr, item->type_, item->mtime_, "%s", item->msg_);
-    free(const_cast<char*>(item->msg_));
+    free(item->msg_);
     item->msg_ = nullptr;
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/lib/message_queue_item.h b/core/src/lib/message_queue_item.h
index 657487946ef..eb3d4fd3be4 100644
--- a/core/src/lib/message_queue_item.h
+++ b/core/src/lib/message_queue_item.h
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class MessageQueueItem {
   dlink link_;
   int type_ = 0;
   utime_t mtime_ = {0};
-  const char* msg_{nullptr};
+  char* msg_{nullptr};
 };