diff --git a/lib/rubygems/util.rb b/lib/rubygems/util.rb
index b5f1408401..196cbe0645 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/util.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/util.rb
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 # This module contains various utility methods as module methods.
 
 module Gem::Util
-
-  @silent_mutex = nil
-
   ##
   # Zlib::GzipReader wrapper that unzips +data+.