diff --git a/include/rssfuncs.php b/include/rssfuncs.php
index 817490a84ba99b96387366198946b44c6f174d2d..fb2f35272ad15ad8fe53eb290dff00fa429cb274 100644
--- a/include/rssfuncs.php
+++ b/include/rssfuncs.php
@@ -1017,14 +1017,12 @@
 
 		} else {
 
-			$error_msg = mb_substr($rss->error(), 0, 250);
+			$error_msg = db_escape_string(mb_substr($rss->error(), 0, 250));
 
 			if ($debug_enabled) {
 				_debug("update_rss_feed: error fetching feed: $error_msg");
 			}
 
-			$error_msg = db_escape_string($error_msg);
-
 			db_query($link,
 				"UPDATE ttrss_feeds SET last_error = '$error_msg',
 					last_updated = NOW() WHERE id = '$feed'");