diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers.go
index b7c59cfc54d..65cb389e517 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers.go
@@ -96,9 +96,11 @@ func SerializeObject(mediaType string, encoder runtime.Encoder, hw http.Response
 	err := encoder.Encode(object, w)
 	if err == nil {
 		err = w.Close()
-		if err == nil {
-			return
+		if err != nil {
+			// we cannot write an error to the writer anymore as the Encode call was successful.
+			utilruntime.HandleError(fmt.Errorf("apiserver was unable to close cleanly the response writer: %v", err))
 		}
+		return
 	}
 
 	// make a best effort to write the object if a failure is detected
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers_test.go
index 624b6becdff..ace0f0a7096 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/handlers/responsewriters/writers_test.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"compress/gzip"
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
+	kerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/diff"
@@ -37,6 +38,76 @@ import (
 	featuregatetesting "k8s.io/component-base/featuregate/testing"
 )
 
+func TestSerializeObjectParallel(t *testing.T) {
+	largePayload := bytes.Repeat([]byte("0123456789abcdef"), defaultGzipThresholdBytes/16+1)
+	type test struct {
+		name string
+
+		compressionEnabled bool
+
+		mediaType  string
+		out        []byte
+		outErrs    []error
+		req        *http.Request
+		statusCode int
+		object     runtime.Object
+
+		wantCode    int
+		wantHeaders http.Header
+		wantBody    []byte
+	}
+	newTest := func() test {
+		return test{
+			name:               "compress on gzip",
+			compressionEnabled: true,
+			out:                largePayload,
+			mediaType:          "application/json",
+			req: &http.Request{Header: http.Header{
+				"Accept-Encoding": []string{"gzip"},
+			}},
+			wantCode: http.StatusOK,
+			wantHeaders: http.Header{
+				"Content-Type":     []string{"application/json"},
+				"Content-Encoding": []string{"gzip"},
+				"Vary":             []string{"Accept-Encoding"},
+			},
+		}
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
+		ctt := newTest()
+		t.Run(ctt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			defer func() {
+				if r := recover(); r != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("recovered from err %v", r)
+				}
+			}()
+			t.Parallel()
+			defer featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, features.APIResponseCompression, ctt.compressionEnabled)()
+
+			encoder := &fakeEncoder{
+				buf:  ctt.out,
+				errs: ctt.outErrs,
+			}
+			if ctt.statusCode == 0 {
+				ctt.statusCode = http.StatusOK
+			}
+			recorder := &fakeResponseRecorder{
+				ResponseRecorder:   httptest.NewRecorder(),
+				fe:                 encoder,
+				errorAfterEncoding: true,
+			}
+			SerializeObject(ctt.mediaType, encoder, recorder, ctt.req, ctt.statusCode, ctt.object)
+			result := recorder.Result()
+			if result.StatusCode != ctt.wantCode {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected code: %v", result.StatusCode)
+			}
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(result.Header, ctt.wantHeaders) {
+				t.Fatal(diff.ObjectReflectDiff(ctt.wantHeaders, result.Header))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSerializeObject(t *testing.T) {
 	smallPayload := []byte("{test-object,test-object}")
 	largePayload := bytes.Repeat([]byte("0123456789abcdef"), defaultGzipThresholdBytes/16+1)
@@ -111,7 +182,7 @@ func TestSerializeObject(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:        "fail to encode object or status with status code",
 			out:         smallPayload,
-			outErrs:     []error{errors.NewNotFound(schema.GroupResource{}, "test"), fmt.Errorf("bad2")},
+			outErrs:     []error{kerrors.NewNotFound(schema.GroupResource{}, "test"), fmt.Errorf("bad2")},
 			mediaType:   "application/json",
 			req:         &http.Request{Header: http.Header{}},
 			statusCode:  http.StatusOK,
@@ -123,7 +194,7 @@ func TestSerializeObject(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:        "fail to encode object or status with status code and keeps previous error",
 			out:         smallPayload,
-			outErrs:     []error{errors.NewNotFound(schema.GroupResource{}, "test"), fmt.Errorf("bad2")},
+			outErrs:     []error{kerrors.NewNotFound(schema.GroupResource{}, "test"), fmt.Errorf("bad2")},
 			mediaType:   "application/json",
 			req:         &http.Request{Header: http.Header{}},
 			statusCode:  http.StatusNotAcceptable,
@@ -270,10 +341,25 @@ func TestSerializeObject(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+type fakeResponseRecorder struct {
+	*httptest.ResponseRecorder
+	fe                 *fakeEncoder
+	errorAfterEncoding bool
+}
+
+func (frw *fakeResponseRecorder) Write(buf []byte) (int, error) {
+	if frw.errorAfterEncoding && frw.fe.encodeCalled {
+		return 0, errors.New("returning a requested error")
+	}
+	return frw.ResponseRecorder.Write(buf)
+}
+
 type fakeEncoder struct {
 	obj  runtime.Object
 	buf  []byte
 	errs []error
+
+	encodeCalled bool
 }
 
 func (e *fakeEncoder) Encode(obj runtime.Object, w io.Writer) error {
@@ -284,6 +370,7 @@ func (e *fakeEncoder) Encode(obj runtime.Object, w io.Writer) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	_, err := w.Write(e.buf)
+	e.encodeCalled = true
 	return err
 }