diff --git a/lib/gitlab/database.rb b/lib/gitlab/database.rb
index 0d5a7cf069465dc2ee432155e9b81c7702452f02..d7dab584a447fdd6753101e483dc93c00dd222cb 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/database.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/database.rb
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ module Gitlab
         row.values_at(*keys).map { |value| connection.quote(value) }
       end
 
-      connection.execute <<-EOF.strip_heredoc
+      connection.execute <<-EOF
         INSERT INTO #{table} (#{columns.join(', ')})
         VALUES #{tuples.map { |tuple| "(#{tuple.join(', ')})" }.join(', ')}
       EOF
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/database_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/database_spec.rb
index 5e6206b96c72e44afc44731a76090c033012c803..cbf6c35356e8cffd55f173ebc5d70a96d233291e 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/database_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/database_spec.rb
@@ -176,6 +176,10 @@ describe Gitlab::Database, lib: true do
 
       described_class.bulk_insert('test', rows)
     end
+
+    it 'handles non-UTF-8 data' do
+      expect { described_class.bulk_insert('test', [{ a: "\255" }]) }.not_to raise_error
+    end
   end
 
   describe '.create_connection_pool' do