diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/scale/scale.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/scale/scale.go
index d32f8ed9768..31d4212ec2b 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/scale/scale.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/scale/scale.go
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ func (o *ScaleOptions) RunScale() error {
 
 	if len(infos) == 0 {
 		if infoErr != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("no objects passed to scale %w", infoErr)
+			return infoErr
 		}
 		return fmt.Errorf("no objects passed to scale")
 	}