variable returning empty in if statement python

title = article.title
title = re.sub(r' - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia','',title)
title_lower = title.lower()
title_lower = title_lower.replace(' ','-')
print title
print title_lower
title_query = ("INSERT INTO  myguests "
               "(firstname) "
               "VALUES (%s)")

cursor.execute("SELECT id FROM myguests "
                 "WHERE firstname='"+title+"'")

row = cursor.fetchall()
if row !=[]:
    print "List is not empty"
if not row:
    print "List is empty"
    title_query = title
print title

For some reason in my if statement my title variable keeps coming back empty when it is called if not row:

I am trying to insert variable if the variable dose not exist in column.