diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/BUILD b/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/BUILD
index b360c35d00b..570a67fb441 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/BUILD
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ go_library(
     ],
     tags = ["automanaged"],
     deps = [
-        "//pkg/api:go_default_library",
-        "//pkg/api/v1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/equality",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validation",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1",
diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/objectmeta.go b/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/objectmeta.go
index 48cb0c90c80..95a0c2247d5 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/objectmeta.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/genericvalidation/objectmeta.go
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/v1"
 )
 
 // TODO: delete this global variable when we enable the validation of common
@@ -42,7 +40,7 @@ const totalAnnotationSizeLimitB int = 256 * (1 << 10) // 256 kB
 
 // BannedOwners is a black list of object that are not allowed to be owners.
 var BannedOwners = map[schema.GroupVersionKind]struct{}{
-	v1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("Event"): {},
+	schema.GroupVersionKind{Group: "", Version: "v1", Kind: "Event"}: {},
 }
 
 // ValidateClusterName can be used to check whether the given cluster name is valid.
@@ -109,17 +107,8 @@ func ValidateFinalizerName(stringValue string, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorL
 	for _, msg := range validation.IsQualifiedName(stringValue) {
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath, stringValue, msg))
 	}
-	if len(allErrs) != 0 {
-		return allErrs
-	}
 
-	if len(strings.Split(stringValue, "/")) == 1 {
-		if !api.IsStandardFinalizerName(stringValue) {
-			return append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath, stringValue, "name is neither a standard finalizer name nor is it fully qualified"))
-		}
-	}
-
-	return field.ErrorList{}
+	return allErrs
 }
 
 func ValidateNoNewFinalizers(newFinalizers []string, oldFinalizers []string, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
index 2c9b31a00f6..3dc0c14731f 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
@@ -293,12 +293,24 @@ func ValidateImmutableAnnotation(newVal string, oldVal string, annotation string
 // It doesn't return an error for rootscoped resources with namespace, because namespace should already be cleared before.
 // TODO: Remove calls to this method scattered in validations of specific resources, e.g., ValidatePodUpdate.
 func ValidateObjectMeta(meta *metav1.ObjectMeta, requiresNamespace bool, nameFn ValidateNameFunc, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
-	return genericvalidation.ValidateObjectMeta(meta, requiresNamespace, apimachineryvalidation.ValidateNameFunc(nameFn), fldPath)
+	allErrs := genericvalidation.ValidateObjectMeta(meta, requiresNamespace, apimachineryvalidation.ValidateNameFunc(nameFn), fldPath)
+	// run additional checks for the finalizer name
+	for i := range meta.Finalizers {
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, validateKubeFinalizerName(string(meta.Finalizers[i]), fldPath.Child("finalizers").Index(i))...)
+	}
+
+	return allErrs
 }
 
 // ValidateObjectMetaUpdate validates an object's metadata when updated
 func ValidateObjectMetaUpdate(newMeta, oldMeta *metav1.ObjectMeta, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
-	return genericvalidation.ValidateObjectMetaUpdate(newMeta, oldMeta, fldPath)
+	allErrs := genericvalidation.ValidateObjectMetaUpdate(newMeta, oldMeta, fldPath)
+	// run additional checks for the finalizer name
+	for i := range newMeta.Finalizers {
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, validateKubeFinalizerName(string(newMeta.Finalizers[i]), fldPath.Child("finalizers").Index(i))...)
+	}
+
+	return allErrs
 }
 
 func ValidateNoNewFinalizers(newFinalizers []string, oldFinalizers []string, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
@@ -3367,7 +3379,24 @@ func ValidateNamespace(namespace *api.Namespace) field.ErrorList {
 
 // Validate finalizer names
 func validateFinalizerName(stringValue string, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
-	return genericvalidation.ValidateFinalizerName(stringValue, fldPath)
+	allErrs := genericvalidation.ValidateFinalizerName(stringValue, fldPath)
+	for _, err := range validateKubeFinalizerName(stringValue, fldPath) {
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, err)
+	}
+
+	return allErrs
+}
+
+// validateKubeFinalizerName checks for "standard" names of legacy finalizer
+func validateKubeFinalizerName(stringValue string, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
+	allErrs := field.ErrorList{}
+	if len(strings.Split(stringValue, "/")) == 1 {
+		if !api.IsStandardFinalizerName(stringValue) {
+			return append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath, stringValue, "name is neither a standard finalizer name nor is it fully qualified"))
+		}
+	}
+
+	return allErrs
 }
 
 // ValidateNamespaceUpdate tests to make sure a namespace update can be applied.