diff --git a/event.go b/event.go
index 17ee15d..41e33c9 100644
--- a/event.go
+++ b/event.go
@@ -121,16 +121,7 @@ func (e *Event) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
 
 // WriteString adds string data to the event.
 // Equivalent to calling Write([]byte(string))
-// Panics if provided with non-ascii input
 func (e *Event) WriteString(p string) {
-	// check ASCII
-	for _, c := range p {
-		if c > unicode.MaxASCII {
-			// TODO at next major version bump, convert this to return an error
-			// instead of a blind panic
-			panic("eventsource: WriteString: Attempt to write non-ascii string")
-		}
-	}
 	// split event on newlines
 	split := strings.Split(p, "\n")
 	for _, entry := range split {