diff --git a/gracedb/events/api/views.py b/gracedb/events/api/views.py
index a178e7f002dfcab8f7d5c403725b4a6a0a3feb7f..1568f01ce44c9d98b4895d5b188b1393502417ec 100644
--- a/gracedb/events/api/views.py
+++ b/gracedb/events/api/views.py
@@ -1820,7 +1820,7 @@ class VOEventList(APIView):
             voevent.save()
         except Exception as e:
             return Response("Failed to create VOEvent: %s" % str(e),
-                    status=status.HTTP_503_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE)
+                    status=status.HTTP_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
 
         # Now, you need to actually build the VOEvent.
         try: