diff --git a/Python/pylifecycle.c b/Python/pylifecycle.c
index 5e5db98481150e..b354c033ae7727 100644
--- a/Python/pylifecycle.c
+++ b/Python/pylifecycle.c
@@ -1109,7 +1109,6 @@ run_presite(PyThreadState *tstate)
     );
     if (presite_modname == NULL) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Could not convert pre-site module name to unicode\n");
-        Py_DECREF(presite_modname);
     }
     else {
         PyObject *presite = PyImport_Import(presite_modname);