diff --git a/datalad/support/github_.py b/datalad/support/github_.py
index 6848a6785..85ddaa345 100644
--- a/datalad/support/github_.py
+++ b/datalad/support/github_.py
@@ -60,6 +60,17 @@ def _token_str(token):
     return token[:3] + '...'
 
 
+def _gh_exception(exc_cls, *args):
+    """Instantiate a GitHub exception, compatible with changes in PyGithub.
+    Some exceptions (e.g. BadCredentialsException) now require a ``headers``
+    argument. If only two arguments are provided, assume ``headers=None``.
+    """
+    if exc_cls is gh.BadCredentialsException and len(args) == 2:
+        # status, data -> add headers
+        return exc_cls(args[0], args[1], None)
+    return exc_cls(*args)
+
+
 def _get_tokens_for_login(login, tokens):
     selected_tokens = []
     for t in tokens: