diff --git a/cms/static/js/maintenance/force_publish_course.js b/cms/static/js/maintenance/force_publish_course.js
index 65e93ff725..e7eed221d6 100644
--- a/cms/static/js/maintenance/force_publish_course.js
+++ b/cms/static/js/maintenance/force_publish_course.js
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ function($, _, gettext, ViewUtils, StringUtils, HtmlUtils) {
         showError = function(containerElSelector, error) {
             var errorWrapperElSelector, errorHtml;
             errorWrapperElSelector = containerElSelector + ' .wrapper-error';
-            errorHtml = '<div class="error" aria-live="polite" id="course-id-error">' + error + '</div>';
+            errorHtml = HtmlUtils.joinHtml(
+                HtmlUtils.HTML('<div class="error" aria-live="polite" id="course-id-error">'),
+                error,
+                HtmlUtils.HTML('</div>')
+            );
             HtmlUtils.setHtml($(errorWrapperElSelector), HtmlUtils.HTML(errorHtml));
             $(errorWrapperElSelector).css('display', 'inline-block');
             $(errorWrapperElSelector).fadeOut(5000);