diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
index cc4ba506e119..3a30c2ac5b47 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
@@ -2760,7 +2760,7 @@ struct total_run_stats {
 	u64  total_run_time;
 };
 
-static int __show_thread_runtime(struct thread *t, void *priv)
+static int show_thread_runtime(struct thread *t, void *priv)
 {
 	struct total_run_stats *stats = priv;
 	struct thread_runtime *r;
@@ -2783,22 +2783,6 @@ static int __show_thread_runtime(struct thread *t, void *priv)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int show_thread_runtime(struct thread *t, void *priv)
-{
-	if (t->dead)
-		return 0;
-
-	return __show_thread_runtime(t, priv);
-}
-
-static int show_deadthread_runtime(struct thread *t, void *priv)
-{
-	if (!t->dead)
-		return 0;
-
-	return __show_thread_runtime(t, priv);
-}
-
 static size_t callchain__fprintf_folded(FILE *fp, struct callchain_node *node)
 {
 	const char *sep = " <- ";
@@ -2890,11 +2874,6 @@ static void timehist_print_summary(struct perf_sched *sched,
 	if (!task_count)
 		printf("<no still running tasks>\n");
 
-	printf("\nTerminated tasks:\n");
-	machine__for_each_thread(m, show_deadthread_runtime, &totals);
-	if (task_count == totals.task_count)
-		printf("<no terminated tasks>\n");
-
 	/* CPU idle stats not tracked when samples were skipped */
 	if (sched->skipped_samples && !sched->idle_hist)
 		return;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/cs-etm.c b/tools/perf/util/cs-etm.c
index 91299cc56bf7..0f5be4ad24ba 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/cs-etm.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/cs-etm.c
@@ -3292,12 +3292,6 @@ int cs_etm__process_auxtrace_info_full(union perf_event *event,
 		goto err_free_queues;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * Initialize list node so that at thread__zput() we can avoid
-	 * segmentation fault at list_del_init().
-	 */
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&etm->unknown_thread->node);
-
 	err = thread__set_comm(etm->unknown_thread, "unknown", 0);
 	if (err)
 		goto err_delete_thread;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt.c b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt.c
index fe893c9bab3f..dde2ca77a005 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/intel-pt.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/intel-pt.c
@@ -4311,14 +4311,6 @@ int intel_pt_process_auxtrace_info(union perf_event *event,
 		goto err_free_queues;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * Since this thread will not be kept in any rbtree not in a
-	 * list, initialize its list node so that at thread__put() the
-	 * current thread lifetime assumption is kept and we don't segfault
-	 * at list_del_init().
-	 */
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&pt->unknown_thread->node);
-
 	err = thread__set_comm(pt->unknown_thread, "unknown", 0);
 	if (err)
 		goto err_delete_thread;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/machine.c b/tools/perf/util/machine.c
index 9e02e19c1b7a..a1954ac85f59 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/machine.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/machine.c
@@ -241,17 +241,6 @@ void machine__exit(struct machine *machine)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < THREADS__TABLE_SIZE; i++) {
 		struct threads *threads = &machine->threads[i];
-		struct thread *thread, *n;
-		/*
-		 * Forget about the dead, at this point whatever threads were
-		 * left in the dead lists better have a reference count taken
-		 * by who is using them, and then, when they drop those references
-		 * and it finally hits zero, thread__put() will check and see that
-		 * its not in the dead threads list and will not try to remove it
-		 * from there, just calling thread__delete() straight away.
-		 */
-		list_for_each_entry_safe(thread, n, &threads->dead, node)
-			list_del_init(&thread->node);
 
 		exit_rwsem(&threads->lock);
 	}
@@ -2046,18 +2035,7 @@ static void __machine__remove_thread(struct machine *machine, struct thread *th,
 	rb_erase_cached(&th->rb_node, &threads->entries);
 	RB_CLEAR_NODE(&th->rb_node);
 	--threads->nr;
-	/*
-	 * Move it first to the dead_threads list, then drop the reference,
-	 * if this is the last reference, then the thread__delete destructor
-	 * will be called and we will remove it from the dead_threads list.
-	 */
-	list_add_tail(&th->node, &threads->dead);
 
-	/*
-	 * We need to do the put here because if this is the last refcount,
-	 * then we will be touching the threads->dead head when removing the
-	 * thread.
-	 */
 	thread__put(th);
 
 	if (lock)
@@ -2145,10 +2123,8 @@ int machine__process_exit_event(struct machine *machine, union perf_event *event
 	if (dump_trace)
 		perf_event__fprintf_task(event, stdout);
 
-	if (thread != NULL) {
-		thread__exited(thread);
+	if (thread != NULL)
 		thread__put(thread);
-	}
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -3204,12 +3180,6 @@ int machine__for_each_thread(struct machine *machine,
 			if (rc != 0)
 				return rc;
 		}
-
-		list_for_each_entry(thread, &threads->dead, node) {
-			rc = fn(thread, priv);
-			if (rc != 0)
-				return rc;
-		}
 	}
 	return rc;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/thread.c b/tools/perf/util/thread.c
index 4b5bdc277baa..d949bffc0ed6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/thread.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/thread.c
@@ -125,31 +125,8 @@ struct thread *thread__get(struct thread *thread)
 
 void thread__put(struct thread *thread)
 {
-	if (thread && refcount_dec_and_test(&thread->refcnt)) {
-		/*
-		 * Remove it from the dead threads list, as last reference is
-		 * gone, if it is in a dead threads list.
-		 *
-		 * We may not be there anymore if say, the machine where it was
-		 * stored was already deleted, so we already removed it from
-		 * the dead threads and some other piece of code still keeps a
-		 * reference.
-		 *
-		 * This is what 'perf sched' does and finally drops it in
-		 * perf_sched__lat(), where it calls perf_sched__read_events(),
-		 * that processes the events by creating a session and deleting
-		 * it, which ends up destroying the list heads for the dead
-		 * threads, but before it does that it removes all threads from
-		 * it using list_del_init().
-		 *
-		 * So we need to check here if it is in a dead threads list and
-		 * if so, remove it before finally deleting the thread, to avoid
-		 * an use after free situation.
-		 */
-		if (!list_empty(&thread->node))
-			list_del_init(&thread->node);
+	if (thread && refcount_dec_and_test(&thread->refcnt))
 		thread__delete(thread);
-	}
 }
 
 static struct namespaces *__thread__namespaces(const struct thread *thread)
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/thread.h b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
index 395c626699a9..86737812e06b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/thread.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
@@ -30,10 +30,7 @@ struct lbr_stitch {
 };
 
 struct thread {
-	union {
-		struct rb_node	 rb_node;
-		struct list_head node;
-	};
+	struct rb_node		rb_node;
 	struct maps		*maps;
 	pid_t			pid_; /* Not all tools update this */
 	pid_t			tid;
@@ -43,7 +40,6 @@ struct thread {
 	refcount_t		refcnt;
 	bool			comm_set;
 	int			comm_len;
-	bool			dead; /* if set thread has exited */
 	struct list_head	namespaces_list;
 	struct rw_semaphore	namespaces_lock;
 	struct list_head	comm_list;
@@ -81,11 +77,6 @@ static inline void __thread__zput(struct thread **thread)
 
 #define thread__zput(thread) __thread__zput(&thread)
 
-static inline void thread__exited(struct thread *thread)
-{
-	thread->dead = true;
-}
-
 struct namespaces *thread__namespaces(struct thread *thread);
 int thread__set_namespaces(struct thread *thread, u64 timestamp,
 			   struct perf_record_namespaces *event);