diff --git a/dev-python/empy/empy-3.3.3.ebuild b/dev-python/empy/empy-3.3.3.ebuild
index 329fa9aed9e0a..f52f5e7d7d88c 100644
--- a/dev-python/empy/empy-3.3.3.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/empy/empy-3.3.3.ebuild
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 EAPI=6
 
+DISTUTILS_USE_SETUPTOOLS=no
 PYTHON_COMPAT=( python{2_7,3_6} pypy3 )
 
 inherit distutils-r1