diff --git a/pylib/cqlshlib/copyutil.py b/pylib/cqlshlib/copyutil.py
index 853893c2a8..169a6e0c4f 100644
--- a/pylib/cqlshlib/copyutil.py
+++ b/pylib/cqlshlib/copyutil.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class SendingChannel(object):
                     msg = self.pending_messages.get()
                     self.pipe.send(msg)
                 except Exception as e:
-                    printmsg('%s: %s' % (e.__class__.__name__, e.message))
+                    printmsg('%s: %s' % (e.__class__.__name__, e.message if hasattr(e, 'message') else str(e)))
 
         feeding_thread = threading.Thread(target=feed)
         feeding_thread.setDaemon(True)
@@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ class FeedingProcess(mp.Process):
         try:
             reader.start()
         except IOError as exc:
-            self.outmsg.send(ImportTaskError(exc.__class__.__name__, exc.message))
+            self.outmsg.send(ImportTaskError(exc.__class__.__name__, exc.message if hasattr(exc, 'message') else str(exc)))
 
         channels = self.worker_channels
         max_pending_chunks = self.max_pending_chunks
@@ -1371,7 +1371,7 @@ class FeedingProcess(mp.Process):
                     if rows:
                         sent += self.send_chunk(ch, rows)
                 except Exception as exc:
-                    self.outmsg.send(ImportTaskError(exc.__class__.__name__, exc.message))
+                    self.outmsg.send(ImportTaskError(exc.__class__.__name__, exc.message if hasattr(exc, 'message') else str(exc)))
 
                 if reader.exhausted:
                     break
@@ -2632,7 +2632,7 @@ class ImportProcess(ChildProcess):
                 pk = get_row_partition_key_values(row)
                 rows_by_ring_pos[get_ring_pos(ring, pk_to_token_value(pk))].append(row)
             except Exception as e:
-                errors[e.message].append(row)
+                errors[e.message if hasattr(e, 'message') else str(e)].append(row)
 
         if errors:
             for msg, rows in errors.items():
diff --git a/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py b/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
index e00d91f2d6..a8ee51d225 100644
--- a/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
+++ b/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ def formatter_for(typname):
         return f
     return registrator
 
+
 class BlobType(object):
     def __init__(self, val):
         self.val = val
@@ -246,6 +247,7 @@ class BlobType(object):
     def __str__(self):
         return str(self.val)
 
+
 @formatter_for('BlobType')
 def format_value_blob(val, colormap, **_):
     bval = ensure_text('0x') + ensure_text(binascii.hexlify(val))