diff --git a/ircbot/bot.py b/ircbot/bot.py
index 5df7258..cfab517 100644
--- a/ircbot/bot.py
+++ b/ircbot/bot.py
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ class IRCBot(irc.client.SimpleIRCClient):
 
         for chan in IrcChannel.objects.filter(autojoin=True, server=connection.server_config):
             log.info("autojoining %s", chan.name)
-            self.connection.join(chan)
+            self.connection.join(chan.name)
 
         for plugin in IrcPlugin.objects.filter(autoload=True):
             log.info("autoloading %s", plugin.path)