diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index a38085384f..de8b14f24a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 2.2.20
+ * Remove dh_python use from Debian packaging (CASSANDRA-18558)
  * Add python2 location to RPMs (CASSANDRA-16822)
  * CQL shell should prefer newer TLS version by default (CASSANDRA-16695)
  * Fix Debian init start/stop (CASSANDRA-15770)
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index ff1d64df1b..9cd7f3e451 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ install: build
 	dh_testroot
 	dh_installdirs
 	dh_install
-	dh_python2
 
 	# Copy in the jar and symlink to something stable
 	dh_install build/apache-cassandra-$(VERSION).jar \