diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features.go
index dc4d476b39b..28a1a3e0021 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/version"
 	"k8s.io/component-base/featuregate"
+	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ func NewFeatureGate(f *FeatureList, value string) (map[string]bool, error) {
 		}
 
 		if featureSpec.PreRelease == featuregate.Deprecated {
-			return nil, errors.Errorf("feature-gate key is deprecated: %s", k)
+			klog.Warningf("Setting deprecated feature gate %s=%t. It will be removed in a future release.", k, v)
 		}
 
 		boolValue, err := strconv.ParseBool(v)
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features_test.go
index 81d29f3e6a8..82dcf03fbc8 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/features/features_test.go
@@ -92,8 +92,9 @@ func TestNewFeatureGate(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedError: true,
 		},
 		{ //deprecated feature-gate key
-			value:         "deprecated=true",
-			expectedError: true,
+			value:                "deprecated=true",
+			expectedError:        false,
+			expectedFeaturesGate: map[string]bool{"deprecated": true},
 		},
 		{ //one feature
 			value:                "feature1=true",