diff --git a/dev-python/jsonref/jsonref-0.1.ebuild b/dev-python/jsonref/jsonref-0.1.ebuild
index 586741402ea08..5989f2b3ce7a7 100644
--- a/dev-python/jsonref/jsonref-0.1.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/jsonref/jsonref-0.1.ebuild
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 EAPI=7
+
+DISTUTILS_USE_SETUPTOOLS=no
 PYTHON_COMPAT=( python3_{6,7,8} )
 
 inherit eutils distutils-r1