diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index db12129a15ef9..e9897424fae3a 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -8271,7 +8271,7 @@ def explode(
 
         columns: list[str | tuple]
         if is_scalar(column) or isinstance(column, tuple):
-            assert isinstance(column, (str, tuple))
+            assert isinstance(column, (str, tuple, int))
             columns = [column]
         elif isinstance(column, list) and all(
             map(lambda c: is_scalar(c) or isinstance(c, tuple), column)