diff --git a/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php b/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
index 589de3edf7..41ee08ba57 100644
--- a/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
+++ b/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ function post_categories_meta_box( $post, $box ) {
  */
 function post_excerpt_meta_box($post) {
 ?>
-<label class="screen-reader-text" for="excerpt"><?php _e('Excerpt') ?></label><textarea rows="1" cols="40" name="excerpt" tabindex="6" id="excerpt"><?php echo esc_textarea( $post->post_excerpt ); ?></textarea>
+<label class="screen-reader-text" for="excerpt"><?php _e('Excerpt') ?></label><textarea rows="1" cols="40" name="excerpt" tabindex="6" id="excerpt"><?php echo $post->post_excerpt; ?></textarea>
 <p><?php _e('Excerpts are optional hand-crafted summaries of your content that can be used in your theme. <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Excerpt" target="_blank">Learn more about manual excerpts.</a>'); ?></p>
 <?php
 }