diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
index 9770164f71a..dc3b19577ba 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
@@ -446,9 +446,8 @@ func RunDiff(f cmdutil.Factory, diff *DiffProgram, options *DiffOptions, from, t
 			Parser:  parser,
 			Encoder: f.JSONEncoder(),
 		}
-		differ.Diff(obj, printer)
 
-		return nil
+		return differ.Diff(obj, printer)
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return err