diff --git a/pkg/controller/deployment/sync.go b/pkg/controller/deployment/sync.go
index a5b606be2c0..88e66c9eec4 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/deployment/sync.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/deployment/sync.go
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ func (dc *DeploymentController) cleanupDeployment(oldRSs []*extensions.ReplicaSe
 	for i := int32(0); i < diff; i++ {
 		rs := oldRSs[i]
 		// Avoid delete replica set with non-zero replica counts
-		if rs.Status.Replicas != 0 || *(rs.Spec.Replicas) != 0 || rs.Generation > rs.Status.ObservedGeneration {
+		if rs.Status.Replicas != 0 || *(rs.Spec.Replicas) != 0 || rs.Generation > rs.Status.ObservedGeneration || rs.DeletionTimestamp != nil {
 			continue
 		}
 		glog.V(2).Infof("Trying to cleanup replica set %q for deployment %q", rs.Name, deployment.Name)
diff --git a/pkg/controller/deployment/sync_test.go b/pkg/controller/deployment/sync_test.go
index 63e397e0060..aaf0a006257 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/deployment/sync_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/deployment/sync_test.go
@@ -323,6 +323,9 @@ func TestScale(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestDeploymentController_cleanupDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 	selector := map[string]string{"foo": "bar"}
+	alreadyDeleted := newRSWithStatus("foo-1", 0, 0, selector)
+	now := metav1.Now()
+	alreadyDeleted.DeletionTimestamp = &now
 
 	tests := []struct {
 		oldRSs               []*extensions.ReplicaSet
@@ -366,10 +369,19 @@ func TestDeploymentController_cleanupDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 			revisionHistoryLimit: 0,
 			expectedDeletions:    0,
 		},
+		{
+			oldRSs: []*extensions.ReplicaSet{
+				alreadyDeleted,
+			},
+			revisionHistoryLimit: 0,
+			expectedDeletions:    0,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for i := range tests {
 		test := tests[i]
+		t.Logf("scenario %d", i)
+
 		fake := &fake.Clientset{}
 		informers := informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(nil, fake, controller.NoResyncPeriodFunc())
 		controller := NewDeploymentController(informers.Extensions().V1beta1().Deployments(), informers.Extensions().V1beta1().ReplicaSets(), informers.Core().V1().Pods(), fake)