diff --git a/changelog.d/12908.removal b/changelog.d/12908.removal
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1d05d69e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/12908.removal
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Remove contributed `kick_users.py` script. This is broken under Python 3, and is not added to the environment when `pip install`ing Synapse.
diff --git a/contrib/scripts/kick_users.py b/contrib/scripts/kick_users.py
deleted file mode 100755
index f8e0c732fb..0000000000
--- a/contrib/scripts/kick_users.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,88 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-
-import json
-import sys
-import urllib
-from argparse import ArgumentParser
-
-import requests
-
-
-def _mkurl(template, kws):
-    for key in kws:
-        template = template.replace(key, kws[key])
-    return template
-
-
-def main(hs, room_id, access_token, user_id_prefix, why):
-    if not why:
-        why = "Automated kick."
-    print(
-        "Kicking members on %s in room %s matching %s" % (hs, room_id, user_id_prefix)
-    )
-    room_state_url = _mkurl(
-        "$HS/_matrix/client/api/v1/rooms/$ROOM/state?access_token=$TOKEN",
-        {"$HS": hs, "$ROOM": room_id, "$TOKEN": access_token},
-    )
-    print("Getting room state => %s" % room_state_url)
-    res = requests.get(room_state_url)
-    print("HTTP %s" % res.status_code)
-    state_events = res.json()
-    if "error" in state_events:
-        print("FATAL")
-        print(state_events)
-        return
-
-    kick_list = []
-    room_name = room_id
-    for event in state_events:
-        if not event["type"] == "m.room.member":
-            if event["type"] == "m.room.name":
-                room_name = event["content"].get("name")
-            continue
-        if not event["content"].get("membership") == "join":
-            continue
-        if event["state_key"].startswith(user_id_prefix):
-            kick_list.append(event["state_key"])
-
-    if len(kick_list) == 0:
-        print("No user IDs match the prefix '%s'" % user_id_prefix)
-        return
-
-    print("The following user IDs will be kicked from %s" % room_name)
-    for uid in kick_list:
-        print(uid)
-    doit = input("Continue? [Y]es\n")
-    if len(doit) > 0 and doit.lower() == "y":
-        print("Kicking members...")
-        # encode them all
-        kick_list = [urllib.quote(uid) for uid in kick_list]
-        for uid in kick_list:
-            kick_url = _mkurl(
-                "$HS/_matrix/client/api/v1/rooms/$ROOM/state/m.room.member/$UID?access_token=$TOKEN",
-                {"$HS": hs, "$UID": uid, "$ROOM": room_id, "$TOKEN": access_token},
-            )
-            kick_body = {"membership": "leave", "reason": why}
-            print("Kicking %s" % uid)
-            res = requests.put(kick_url, data=json.dumps(kick_body))
-            if res.status_code != 200:
-                print("ERROR: HTTP %s" % res.status_code)
-            if res.json().get("error"):
-                print("ERROR: JSON %s" % res.json())
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    parser = ArgumentParser("Kick members in a room matching a certain user ID prefix.")
-    parser.add_argument("-u", "--user-id", help="The user ID prefix e.g. '@irc_'")
-    parser.add_argument("-t", "--token", help="Your access_token")
-    parser.add_argument("-r", "--room", help="The room ID to kick members in")
-    parser.add_argument(
-        "-s", "--homeserver", help="The base HS url e.g. http://matrix.org"
-    )
-    parser.add_argument("-w", "--why", help="Reason for the kick. Optional.")
-    args = parser.parse_args()
-    if not args.room or not args.token or not args.user_id or not args.homeserver:
-        parser.print_help()
-        sys.exit(1)
-    else:
-        main(args.homeserver, args.room, args.token, args.user_id, args.why)