diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connections/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connections/__init__.py
index 629c90d8d7e..8e4841225c6 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connections/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connections/__init__.py
@@ -37,8 +37,6 @@ from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 #        which may want to output display/logs too
 from ansible.utils.display import Display
 
-from ansible.utils.debug import debug
-
 
 __all__ = ['ConnectionBase', 'ensure_connect']