diff --git a/docs/ref/databases.txt b/docs/ref/databases.txt
index f28079ae33..2ef048216f 100644
--- a/docs/ref/databases.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/databases.txt
@@ -259,6 +259,9 @@ At the time of writing, the latest release of MySQLdb (1.2.4) doesn't support
 Python 3. In order to use MySQL under Python 3, you'll have to install an
 unofficial fork, such as `MySQL-for-Python-3`_.
 
+This port is still in alpha. In particular, it doesn't support binary data,
+making it impossible to use :class:`django.db.models.BinaryField`.
+
 .. _MySQL-for-Python-3: https://github.com/clelland/MySQL-for-Python-3
 
 Creating your database
diff --git a/tests/model_fields/tests.py b/tests/model_fields/tests.py
index 9af8325040..035a5c2ae3 100644
--- a/tests/model_fields/tests.py
+++ b/tests/model_fields/tests.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from decimal import Decimal
 from django import test
 from django import forms
 from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
-from django.db import models, IntegrityError
+from django.db import connection, models, IntegrityError
 from django.db.models.fields.files import FieldFile
 from django.utils import six
 from django.utils import unittest
@@ -455,6 +455,10 @@ class BinaryFieldTests(test.TestCase):
             # Test default value
             self.assertEqual(bytes(dm.short_data), b'\x08')
 
+    if connection.vendor == 'mysql' and six.PY3:
+        # Existing MySQL DB-API drivers fail on binary data.
+        test_set_and_retrieve = unittest.expectedFailure(test_set_and_retrieve)
+
     def test_max_length(self):
         dm = DataModel(short_data=self.binary_data*4)
         self.assertRaises(ValidationError, dm.full_clean)
diff --git a/tests/serializers_regress/tests.py b/tests/serializers_regress/tests.py
index 72e3825d91..04b4d4c839 100644
--- a/tests/serializers_regress/tests.py
+++ b/tests/serializers_regress/tests.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import six
 from django.utils.encoding import force_text
 from django.utils.functional import curry
-from django.utils.unittest import skipUnless
+from django.utils.unittest import expectedFailure, skipUnless
 
 from .models import (BinaryData, BooleanData, CharData, DateData, DateTimeData, EmailData,
     FileData, FilePathData, DecimalData, FloatData, IntegerData, IPAddressData,
@@ -459,6 +459,11 @@ def serializerTest(format, self):
     for klass, count in instance_count.items():
         self.assertEqual(count, klass.objects.count())
 
+if connection.vendor == 'mysql' and six.PY3:
+    # Existing MySQL DB-API drivers fail on binary data.
+    serializerTest = expectedFailure(serializerTest)
+
+
 def naturalKeySerializerTest(format, self):
     # Create all the objects defined in the test data
     objects = []