diff --git a/src/events/SDL_events.c b/src/events/SDL_events.c
index 4b6fe6078..caa8b87eb 100644
--- a/src/events/SDL_events.c
+++ b/src/events/SDL_events.c
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ SDL_PeepEventsInternal(SDL_Event * events, int numevents, SDL_eventaction action
     /* Don't look after we've quit */
     if (!SDL_AtomicGet(&SDL_EventQ.active)) {
         /* We get a few spurious events at shutdown, so don't warn then */
-        if (action != SDL_ADDEVENT) {
+        if (action == SDL_GETEVENT) {
             SDL_SetError("The event system has been shut down");
         }
         return (-1);