diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/options.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/options.go
index 2c72cb48fd6..17f44ef2a3f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/options.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/options.go
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func validateAllowMetricLabel(allowListMapping map[string]string) error {
 	for k := range allowListMapping {
 		reg := regexp.MustCompile(metricNameRegex + `,` + labelRegex)
 		if reg.FindString(k) != k {
-			return fmt.Errorf("--allow-metric-labels must have a list of kv pair with format `metricName:labelName=labelValue, labelValue,...`")
+			return fmt.Errorf("--allow-metric-labels must have a list of kv pair with format `metricName,labelName=labelValue, labelValue,...`")
 		}
 	}
 	return nil