diff --git a/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.py b/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
index f2a47abb5a4..89224186aca 100755
--- a/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
+++ b/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import datetime
 import difflib
@@ -231,7 +229,7 @@ def get_regexs():
 def main():
     regexs = get_regexs()
     refs = get_refs()
-    filenames = get_files(refs.keys())
+    filenames = get_files(list(refs.keys()))
 
     for filename in filenames:
         if not file_passes(filename, refs, regexs):
diff --git a/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate_test.py b/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate_test.py
index 66453045f76..389e812a599 100644
--- a/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate_test.py
+++ b/hack/boilerplate/boilerplate_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
@@ -48,5 +48,5 @@ class TestBoilerplate(unittest.TestCase):
 
     sys.stdout = old_stdout
 
-    self.assertEquals(
+    self.assertEqual(
         output, ['././fail.go', '././fail.py'])
diff --git a/hack/boilerplate/test/fail.py b/hack/boilerplate/test/fail.py
index cbdd06ff8a1..e59627aaa9b 100644
--- a/hack/boilerplate/test/fail.py
+++ b/hack/boilerplate/test/fail.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
diff --git a/hack/boilerplate/test/pass.py b/hack/boilerplate/test/pass.py
index 5b7ce29a25c..0a0f9c9d1ee 100644
--- a/hack/boilerplate/test/pass.py
+++ b/hack/boilerplate/test/pass.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags-underscore.py b/hack/verify-flags-underscore.py
index bb3dd2385d5..7d620a09424 100755
--- a/hack/verify-flags-underscore.py
+++ b/hack/verify-flags-underscore.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 import os
 import re
@@ -107,7 +105,7 @@ def check_underscore_in_flags(rootdir, files):
         print("Are you certain this flag should not have been declared with an - instead?")
         l = list(new_excluded_flags)
         l.sort()
-        print("%s" % "\n".join(l))
+        print(("%s" % "\n".join(l)))
         sys.exit(1)
 
 def main():
diff --git a/hack/verify-publishing-bot.py b/hack/verify-publishing-bot.py
index d63521cdd77..1e9f6c69c2b 100755
--- a/hack/verify-publishing-bot.py
+++ b/hack/verify-publishing-bot.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import fnmatch
 import os
 import sys
@@ -26,7 +24,7 @@ def get_gomod_dependencies(rootdir, components):
     all_dependencies = {}
     for component in components:
         with open(os.path.join(rootdir, component, "go.mod")) as f:
-            print(component + " dependencies")
+            print((component + " dependencies"))
             all_dependencies[component] = []
             lines = list(set(f))
             lines.sort()
@@ -36,7 +34,7 @@ def get_gomod_dependencies(rootdir, components):
                         continue
                     if ("k8s.io/" + dep + " =>") not in line:
                         continue
-                    print("\t"+dep)
+                    print(("\t"+dep))
                     if dep not in all_dependencies[component]:
                         all_dependencies[component].append(dep)
     return all_dependencies
@@ -62,7 +60,7 @@ def main():
     try:
         import yaml
     except ImportError:
-        print("Please install missing pyyaml module and re-run %s" % sys.argv[0])
+        print(("Please install missing pyyaml module and re-run %s" % sys.argv[0]))
         sys.exit(1)
     rules_dependencies = get_rules_dependencies(rootdir + rules_file)
 
@@ -95,7 +93,7 @@ def main():
         if "go" in branch:
             raise Exception("go version must not be specified for master branch for destination %s" % rule["destination"])
 
-        print("processing : %s" % rule["destination"])
+        print(("processing : %s" % rule["destination"]))
         if rule["destination"] not in gomod_dependencies:
             raise Exception("missing go.mod for %s" % rule["destination"])
         processed_repos.append(rule["destination"])
@@ -116,7 +114,7 @@ def main():
             if not found:
                 raise Exception("Please add %s as a dependency under destination %s in %s" % (dep, rule["destination"], rules_file))
             else:
-                print("  found dependency %s" % dep)
+                print(("  found dependency %s" % dep))
         extraDeps = set(processed_deps) - set(gomod_dependencies[rule["destination"]])
         if len(extraDeps) > 0:
             raise Exception("extra dependencies in rules for %s: %s" % (rule["destination"], ','.join(str(s) for s in extraDeps)))
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n/translations/extract.py b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n/translations/extract.py
index f4c3398a2c4..33f9751287c 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n/translations/extract.py
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/i18n/translations/extract.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
 #