diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin.go
index 660fafbf6bd..0beba47d866 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ func (o *PluginListOptions) Run() error {
 		}
 	}
 	if len(pluginErrors) > 0 {
-		fmt.Fprintln(o.ErrOut)
 		errs := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
 		for _, e := range pluginErrors {
 			fmt.Fprintln(errs, e)
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin_test.go
index f1f8013c4b3..90dccea2f17 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/plugin/plugin_test.go
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ func TestPluginPathsAreValid(t *testing.T) {
 				return ioutil.TempFile(tempDir, "notkubectl-")
 			},
 			expectErr: "unable to find any kubectl plugins in your PATH",
-			expectErrOut: "\n",
 		},
 		{
 			name:        "ensure de-duplicated plugin-paths slice",