Golang backend to javascript JSON Parse

I am using the gorilla websocket library for golang: http://www.gorillatoolkit.org/pkg/websocket

This is the code I am using to create the websocket connection:

conn, err := upgrader.Upgrade(w, r, nil)

Having an issue with sending JSON from golang to javascript. I can get it working but have to do what seem to be unnecessary steps. Here is the basics of the golang backend that does not work:

    type clientDB struct{
         ChunksWritten int64
         ChunksRead int64
         BytesWritten   int64
         BytesRead    int64
         DataBytesWritten int64
         DataBytesRead    int64
         ActivePeers   int
         TotalPeers    int
         TorrentHashString string
}

fullClientDB := new(clientDB) //creating a new clientDB struct

b, err := json.Marshal(fullClientDB)
        if err != nil {
            fmt.Println(err)
            return
        }


conn.WriteJSON(b)

When I use JSON.parse in javascript I get the following response:

var clientUpdate = JSON.parse(evt.data);

eyJDaHVua3NXcml0dGVuIjowLCJDaHVua3NSZWFkIjowLCJCeXRlc1dyaXR0ZW4iOjU0NDgxLCJCeXRlc1JlYWQiOjc4NzgyLCJEYXRhQnl0ZXNXcml0dGVuIjowLCJEYXRhQnl0ZXNSZWFkIjowLCJBY3RpdmVQZWVycyI6MCwiVG90YWxQZWVycyI6NDMsIlRvcnJlbnRIYXNoU3RyaW5nIjoiOWY5MTY1ZDlhMjgxYTliOGU3ODJjZDUxNzZiYmNjODI1NmZkMTg3MSJ9

I can get it working making the following changes:

conn.WriteJSON(string(b))

Then in javascript I actually parse the data TWICE.

var clientUpdate = JSON.parse(evt.data);
var clientUpdateJSON = JSON.parse(clientUpdate);

After that I can access the data correctly as a JSON object. Is there something I'm missing about sending JSON objects from golang to javascript over websockets?