diff --git a/dev-python/setuptools/setuptools-65.6.3.ebuild b/dev-python/setuptools/setuptools-65.6.3.ebuild
index d3dbdaf6c0860..147c6b523a2fe 100644
--- a/dev-python/setuptools/setuptools-65.6.3.ebuild
+++ b/dev-python/setuptools/setuptools-65.6.3.ebuild
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ src_prepare() {
 		"${FILESDIR}"/setuptools-62.4.0-py-compile.patch
 	)
 
+	distutils-r1_src_prepare
+
 	# remove bundled dependencies, setuptools will switch to system deps
 	# automatically
 	rm -r */_vendor || die
@@ -89,8 +91,6 @@ src_prepare() {
 		-e 's:from \w*[.]\+extern ::' -e 's:\w*[.]\+extern[.]::' \
 		-i {} + || die
 
-	distutils-r1_src_prepare
-
 	export SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=${PV}
 }