diff --git a/plugins/date.rb b/plugins/date.rb
index 8758f23..b864f3e 100644
--- a/plugins/date.rb
+++ b/plugins/date.rb
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ module Octopress
       if format.nil? || format.empty? || format == "ordinal"
         date_formatted = ordinalize(date)
       else
-        format.gsub!(/%o/, '%%o')
         date_formatted = date.strftime(format)
         date_formatted.gsub!(/%o/, ordinal(date.strftime('%e').to_i))
       end