diff --git a/avro/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/avro/deser/JacksonAvroParserImpl.java b/avro/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/avro/deser/JacksonAvroParserImpl.java
index 2cdaacdb2..a629d8dbe 100644
--- a/avro/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/avro/deser/JacksonAvroParserImpl.java
+++ b/avro/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/avro/deser/JacksonAvroParserImpl.java
@@ -721,7 +721,7 @@ private final void _finishLongText(int len) throws IOException
                 break;
             default:
                 // Is this good enough error message?
-                _reportInvalidChar(c);
+                _reportInvalidInitial(c);
             }
             // Need more room?
             if (outPtr >= outEnd) {
@@ -770,14 +770,6 @@ private final int _decodeUTF8_4(int c) throws IOException
         return ((c << 6) | (d & 0x3F)) - 0x10000;
     }
 
-    protected void _reportInvalidChar(int c) throws JacksonException {
-        // Either invalid WS or illegal UTF-8 start char
-        if (c < ' ') {
-            _throwInvalidSpace(c);
-        }
-        _reportInvalidInitial(c);
-    }
-
     private void _reportInvalidInitial(int mask) throws JacksonException {
         _reportError("Invalid UTF-8 start byte 0x"+Integer.toHexString(mask));
     }
diff --git a/protobuf/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/protobuf/ProtobufParser.java b/protobuf/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/protobuf/ProtobufParser.java
index 07c7086ff..97083b4c7 100644
--- a/protobuf/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/protobuf/ProtobufParser.java
+++ b/protobuf/src/main/java/tools/jackson/dataformat/protobuf/ProtobufParser.java
@@ -2102,7 +2102,7 @@ private final void _finishLongText(int len) throws JacksonException
                 break;
             default:
                 // Is this good enough error message?
-                _reportInvalidChar(c);
+                _reportInvalidInitial(c);
             }
             // Need more room?
             if (outPtr >= outEnd) {
@@ -2665,12 +2665,4 @@ private void _reportInvalidOther(int mask, int ptr) throws StreamReadException {
         _inputPtr = ptr;
         _reportInvalidOther(mask);
     }
-
-    private void _reportInvalidChar(int c) throws StreamReadException {
-        // Either invalid WS or illegal UTF-8 start char
-        if (c < ' ') {
-            _throwInvalidSpace(c);
-        }
-        _reportInvalidInitial(c);
-    }
 }