diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e1a2b261ddbe..93a1b4bc912f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages, Extension
 import setuptools.command.build_ext
 import setuptools.command.build_py
-import setuptools.command.test
 import setuptools.command.sdist
 
 from distutils.errors import CompileError
@@ -67,12 +66,6 @@ def has_flag(self, flagname):
     return True
 
 
-class NoopTestCommand(setuptools.command.test.test):
-    def __init__(self, dist):
-        print("Matplotlib does not support running tests with "
-              "'python setup.py test'. Please run 'pytest'.")
-
-
 class BuildExtraLibraries(setuptools.command.build_ext.build_ext):
     def finalize_options(self):
         self.distribution.ext_modules[:] = [
@@ -341,7 +334,6 @@ def make_release_tree(self, base_dir, files):
         "fallback_version": "0.0+UNKNOWN",
     },
     cmdclass={
-        "test": NoopTestCommand,
         "build_ext": BuildExtraLibraries,
         "build_py": BuildPy,
         "sdist": Sdist,