diff --git a/core/modules/simpletest/src/AssertHelperTrait.php b/core/modules/simpletest/src/AssertHelperTrait.php
index d477081..dc68e23 100644
--- a/core/modules/simpletest/src/AssertHelperTrait.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/src/AssertHelperTrait.php
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
    * @return mixed
    *   The input value, with MarkupInterface objects casted to string.
    */
-  protected function castSafeStrings($value) {
+  protected static function castSafeStrings($value) {
     if ($value instanceof MarkupInterface) {
       $value = (string) $value;
     }
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/AssertLegacyTrait.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/AssertLegacyTrait.php
index 81b6935..6165871 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/AssertLegacyTrait.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/AssertLegacyTrait.php
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ public static function assertFalse($actual, $message = '') {
    *   instead.
    */
   protected function assertEqual($actual, $expected, $message = '') {
-    $this->assertEquals($this->castSafeStrings($expected), $this->castSafeStrings($actual), $message);
+    $this->assertEquals($expected, $actual, $message);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityKernelTestBase.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityKernelTestBase.php
index 1096ce2..c94d124 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityKernelTestBase.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityKernelTestBase.php
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 use Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityInterface;
 use Drupal\KernelTests\KernelTestBase;
+use Drupal\user\Entity\Role;
+use Drupal\user\Entity\User;
 
 /**
  * Defines an abstract test base for entity kernel tests.
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ protected function setUp() {
   protected function createUser($values = array(), $permissions = array()) {
     if ($permissions) {
       // Create a new role and apply permissions to it.
-      $role = entity_create('user_role', array(
+      $role = Role::create(array(
         'id' => strtolower($this->randomMachineName(8)),
         'label' => $this->randomMachineName(8),
       ));
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ protected function createUser($values = array(), $permissions = array()) {
       $values['roles'][] = $role->id();
     }
 
-    $account = entity_create('user', $values + array(
+    $account = User::create($values + array(
       'name' => $this->randomMachineName(),
       'status' => 1,
     ));
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
index 0b60f93..59eb785 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 use Drupal\entity_test\Entity\EntityTestMulRev;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldConfig;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldStorageConfig;
-use Drupal\KernelTests\Core\Entity\EntityLanguageTestBase;
 use Drupal\language\Entity\ConfigurableLanguage;
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTypeConstraintValidatorTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTypeConstraintValidatorTest.php
index fe8b5bd..1677b99 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTypeConstraintValidatorTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTypeConstraintValidatorTest.php
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 
 namespace Drupal\KernelTests\Core\Entity;
 
-use Drupal\system\Tests\Entity\EntityUnitTestBase;
 use Drupal\system\Tests\TypedData;
 use Drupal\Core\TypedData\DataDefinition;
 
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldSqlStorageTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldSqlStorageTest.php
index e2be94b..30fcb20 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldSqlStorageTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldSqlStorageTest.php
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Entity\Exception\FieldStorageDefinitionUpdateForbiddenException;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldConfig;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldStorageConfig;
-use Drupal\system\Tests\Entity\EntityUnitTestBase;
 
 /**
  * Tests Field SQL Storage .
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldTranslationSqlStorageTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldTranslationSqlStorageTest.php
index 0941a94..0adee64 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldTranslationSqlStorageTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/FieldTranslationSqlStorageTest.php
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Entity\FieldableEntityInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\LanguageInterface;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldStorageConfig;
-use Drupal\KernelTests\Core\Entity\EntityLanguageTestBase;
 
 /**
  * Tests Field translation SQL Storage.
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/KernelTestBase.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/KernelTestBase.php
index e593fa7..d20f341 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/KernelTestBase.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/KernelTestBase.php
@@ -1147,4 +1147,14 @@ public function __sleep() {
     return [];
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public static function assertEquals($expected, $actual, $message = '', $delta = 0.0, $maxDepth = 10, $canonicalize = false, $ignoreCase = false) {
+    $expected = static::castSafeStrings($expected);
+    $actual = static::castSafeStrings($actual);
+    parent::assertEquals($expected, $actual, $message, $delta, $maxDepth, $canonicalize, $ignoreCase);
+  }
+
+
 }