diff --git a/readthedocs/core/utils/__init__.py b/readthedocs/core/utils/__init__.py
index 2e1383affda..4d7222b09df 100644
--- a/readthedocs/core/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/readthedocs/core/utils/__init__.py
@@ -222,9 +222,8 @@ def safe_makedirs(directory_name):
     try:
         os.makedirs(directory_name)
     except OSError as e:
-        if e.errno == errno.EEXIST:
-            pass
-        raise
+        if e.errno != errno.EEXIST:  # 17, FileExistsError
+            raise
 
 
 def safe_unlink(path):