diff --git a/django_tables2/tables.py b/django_tables2/tables.py
index 6d2785d..a1cc7ea 100644
--- a/django_tables2/tables.py
+++ b/django_tables2/tables.py
@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@ class TableData(object):
                         'neither' % type(data).__name__
                     )
                 else:
-                    raise ValueError, ValueError(
+                    # really horrible, but this syntax is not supported on PY3 and would not work otherwise
+                    exec """raise ValueError, (
                         'data must be QuerySet-like (have count and '
                         'order_by) or support list(data) -- %s has '
                         'neither. Original exception: %s' % (type(data).__name__, ex)
-                    ), sys.exc_info()[2]
+                    ), sys.exc_info()[2]"""
 
     def __len__(self):
         if not hasattr(self, "_length"):