diff --git a/Python/ceval.c b/Python/ceval.c
index c512afadb1f7a7..8e878cbf7e2b30 100644
--- a/Python/ceval.c
+++ b/Python/ceval.c
@@ -6113,7 +6113,6 @@ PyEval_EvalCodeEx(PyObject *_co, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals,
         }
         newargs = PyMem_Malloc(sizeof(PyObject *)*(kwcount+argcount));
         if (newargs == NULL) {
-            Py_DECREF(kwnames);
             goto fail;
         }
         for (int i = 0; i < argcount; i++) {