diff --git a/pkg/controller/daemon/BUILD b/pkg/controller/daemon/BUILD
index 75793fdf5c4..a456c978b79 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/daemon/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/controller/daemon/BUILD
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime:go_default_library",
+        "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/intstr:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/json:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/controller/daemon/daemon_controller.go b/pkg/controller/daemon/daemon_controller.go
index 1a5330175d3..bbba21f4f94 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/daemon/daemon_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/daemon/daemon_controller.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
@@ -1274,7 +1275,8 @@ func (dsc *DaemonSetsController) simulate(newPod *v1.Pod, node *v1.Node, ds *app
 		}
 		// ignore pods that belong to the daemonset when taking into account whether
 		// a daemonset should bind to a node.
-		if metav1.IsControlledBy(pod, ds) {
+		// TODO: replace this with metav1.IsControlledBy() in 1.12
+		if isControlledByDaemonSet(pod, ds.GetUID()) {
 			continue
 		}
 		pods = append(pods, pod)
@@ -1496,3 +1498,12 @@ func (o podByCreationTimestampAndPhase) Less(i, j int) bool {
 	}
 	return o[i].CreationTimestamp.Before(&o[j].CreationTimestamp)
 }
+
+func isControlledByDaemonSet(p *v1.Pod, uuid types.UID) bool {
+	for _, ref := range p.OwnerReferences {
+		if ref.Controller != nil && *ref.Controller && ref.UID == uuid {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}