diff --git a/lib/excerpt_parser.rb b/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
index acfa88b88..4a19c337a 100644
--- a/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ class ExcerptParser < Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Document
     @markdown_images = options[:markdown_images] == true
     @keep_newlines = options[:keep_newlines] == true
     @keep_emoji_images = options[:keep_emoji_images] == true
-    @keep_emoji_codes = options[:keep_emoji_codes] == true
     @start_excerpt = false
   end
 
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ class ExcerptParser < Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Document
         if attributes["class"] == 'emoji'
           if @keep_emoji_images
             return include_tag(name, attributes)
-          elsif @keep_emoji_codes
+          else
             return characters(attributes["alt"])
           end
         end
diff --git a/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb b/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
index 5e7564037..f0ea5a32d 100644
--- a/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
+++ b/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ module Onebox
             topic = post.topic
             slug = Slug.for(topic.title)
 
-            excerpt = post.excerpt(SiteSetting.post_onebox_maxlength, { keep_emoji_codes: true })
+            excerpt = post.excerpt(SiteSetting.post_onebox_maxlength)
             excerpt.gsub!("\n"," ")
             # hack to make it render for now
             excerpt.gsub!("[/quote]", "[quote]")
diff --git a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
index 430bf7bad..729c6474c 100644
--- a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ HTML
 
     it "should have an option to preserve emoji codes" do
       emoji_code = "<img src='/images/emoji/emoji_one/heart.png?v=1' title=':heart:' class='emoji' alt=':heart:'>"
-      expect(PrettyText.excerpt(emoji_code, 100, { keep_emoji_codes: true })).to eq(":heart:")
+      expect(PrettyText.excerpt(emoji_code, 100)).to eq(":heart:")
     end
 
   end