diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
index 6793b008c1c..69da24b8342 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
@@ -406,6 +406,10 @@ func (u *Unstructured) GetDeletionTimestamp() *metav1.Time {
 }
 
 func (u *Unstructured) SetDeletionTimestamp(timestamp *metav1.Time) {
+	if timestamp == nil {
+		u.setNestedField(nil, "metadata", "deletionTimestamp")
+		return
+	}
 	ts, _ := timestamp.MarshalQueryParameter()
 	u.setNestedField(ts, "metadata", "deletionTimestamp")
 }