diff --git a/redbot/core/core_commands.py b/redbot/core/core_commands.py
index 7bcc41d94..7314b87c0 100644
--- a/redbot/core/core_commands.py
+++ b/redbot/core/core_commands.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class Core:
         owner = app_info.owner
 
         async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
-            async with session.get("http://pypi.python.org/pypi/red-discordbot/json") as r:
+            async with session.get('{}/json'.format(red_pypi)) as r:
                 data = await r.json()
         outdated = StrictVersion(data["info"]["version"]) > StrictVersion(__version__)
         about = (
diff --git a/redbot/core/events.py b/redbot/core/events.py
index a54feaeb9..7a9bf22da 100644
--- a/redbot/core/events.py
+++ b/redbot/core/events.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def init_events(bot, cli_flags):
         INFO.append('{} cogs with {} commands'.format(len(bot.cogs), len(bot.commands)))
 
         async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
-            async with session.get("http://pypi.python.org/pypi/red-discordbot/json") as r:
+            async with session.get("https://pypi.python.org/pypi/red-discordbot/json") as r:
                 data = await r.json()
         if StrictVersion(data["info"]["version"]) > StrictVersion(red_version):
             INFO.append(