diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py
index d05402764335..82183e7e5a24 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
-                        unicode_literals)
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 import six
 
 import os