diff --git a/lib/baseresponse.go b/lib/baseresponse.go
index 41770dfa..b1a14fb8 100644
--- a/lib/baseresponse.go
+++ b/lib/baseresponse.go
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ type Status struct {
 type Failure struct {
 	Index  string    `json:"index"`
 	Shard  StatusInt `json:"shard"`
-	Reason string    `json:"reason"`
+	Reason json.RawMessage    `json:"reason"`
 }
 
 func (f Failure) String() string {