diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/prims/jni.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/prims/jni.cpp
index e9f4009fd25..10d84fc1d1c 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/prims/jni.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/prims/jni.cpp
@@ -1230,7 +1230,7 @@ JNI_ENTRY(jobject, jni_NewObjectA(JNIEnv *env, jclass clazz, jmethodID methodID,
   HOTSPOT_JNI_NEWOBJECTA_ENTRY(env, clazz, (uintptr_t) methodID);
 
   jobject obj = NULL;
-  DT_RETURN_MARK(NewObjectA, jobject, (const jobject)obj);
+  DT_RETURN_MARK(NewObjectA, jobject, (const jobject&)obj);
 
   instanceOop i = alloc_object(clazz, CHECK_NULL);
   obj = JNIHandles::make_local(env, i);