diff --git a/news/11314.bugfix.rst b/news/11314.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..02d78dc47ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11314.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Avoid  ``AttributeError`` when removing the setuptools-provided ``_distutils_hack`` and it is missing its implementation.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py b/src/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py
index 1b8b42606d7..fbcb04f488f 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/locations/_distutils.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 # rationale for why this is done within pip.
 try:
     __import__("_distutils_hack").remove_shim()
-except ImportError:
+except (ImportError, AttributeError):
     pass
 
 import logging