diff --git a/tensorflow/python/keras/layers/recurrent.py b/tensorflow/python/keras/layers/recurrent.py
index 3a07fbc1694..22d7cd4dcf9 100644
--- a/tensorflow/python/keras/layers/recurrent.py
+++ b/tensorflow/python/keras/layers/recurrent.py
@@ -388,10 +388,10 @@ class RNN(Layer):
                **kwargs):
     if isinstance(cell, (list, tuple)):
       cell = StackedRNNCells(cell)
-    if not hasattr(cell, 'call'):
+    if not 'call' in dir(cell):
       raise ValueError('`cell` should have a `call` method. '
                        'The RNN was passed:', cell)
-    if not ('state_size' in dir(cell) or hasattr(cell, 'state_size')):
+    if not 'state_size' in dir(cell):
       raise ValueError('The RNN cell should have '
                        'an attribute `state_size` '
                        '(tuple of integers, '