diff --git a/build/root/.bazelrc b/build/root/.bazelrc
index 916f56cd752..bb4b4679e81 100644
--- a/build/root/.bazelrc
+++ b/build/root/.bazelrc
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 startup --expand_configs_in_place
 
+# https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/79807
+# https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_docker/issues/842
+# https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/7899
+build --host_force_python=PY2
+
 # Show us information about failures.
 build --verbose_failures
 test --test_output=errors