diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/async_statys_pyx_compat_fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/async_statys_pyx_compat_fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0e6b2b91966
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/async_statys_pyx_compat_fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - use to_text (py2/3 safe) instead of str for 'textualizing' intput in async_status
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/async_status.py b/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/async_status.py
index a22e3d20555..32dcdb23884 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/async_status.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/async_status.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ author:
 import json
 import os
 
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
 from ansible.module_utils.six import iteritems
 
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ def main():
         data['finished'] = 0
 
     # Fix error: TypeError: exit_json() keywords must be strings
-    data = dict([(str(k), v) for k, v in iteritems(data)])
+    data = dict([(to_native(k), v) for k, v in iteritems(data)])
 
     module.exit_json(**data)