diff --git a/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml b/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
index 5bd15e8497..405fee46e3 100644
--- a/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
+++ b/tasks/fedmsg_base.yml
@@ -60,6 +60,6 @@
   - packages
 
 - name: remove fedmsg .rpmnew cruft.
-  file: path=/etc/fedmsg.d/*.rpmnew state=absent
+  shell: rm -rf /etc/fedmsg.d/*.rpmnew
   tags:
   - config