diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
index 6487c06d270853fdf3c0e3a101f821d5692871a6..ad46e91abec5444f4e61b8bd7203c7206ed426a4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kvm.c
@@ -1429,8 +1429,7 @@ static int kvm_events_live(struct perf_kvm_stat *kvm,
 	if (kvm->session)
 		perf_session__delete(kvm->session);
 	kvm->session = NULL;
-	if (kvm->evlist)
-		perf_evlist__delete(kvm->evlist);
+	perf_evlist__delete(kvm->evlist);
 
 	return err;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/event-times.c b/tools/perf/tests/event-times.c
index 95fb744f6628b46301163f24fe5679d46c192453..9f5698ac81ae2373461db58d40a2e742712b96bc 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/event-times.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/event-times.c
@@ -200,8 +200,7 @@ static int test_times(int (attach)(struct perf_evlist *),
 		 count.ena, count.run);
 
 out_err:
-	if (evlist)
-		perf_evlist__delete(evlist);
+	perf_evlist__delete(evlist);
 	return !err ? TEST_OK : TEST_FAIL;
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/parse-no-sample-id-all.c b/tools/perf/tests/parse-no-sample-id-all.c
index 294c76b01b417d004fd20c047b624fe04cf61f65..81c6eeaca0f53ec00d9cabca4d13119856b0c719 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/parse-no-sample-id-all.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/parse-no-sample-id-all.c
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ static int process_events(union perf_event **events, size_t count)
 	for (i = 0; i < count && !err; i++)
 		err = process_event(&evlist, events[i]);
 
-	if (evlist)
-		perf_evlist__delete(evlist);
+	perf_evlist__delete(evlist);
 
 	return err;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 1b918aa075d6a13a2f9cf07784c6f3285f90f45f..fcb8f1ff7806df347424b6f59d288d3df23859cb 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -127,6 +127,9 @@ void perf_evlist__exit(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 
 void perf_evlist__delete(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 {
+	if (evlist == NULL)
+		return;
+
 	perf_evlist__munmap(evlist);
 	perf_evlist__close(evlist);
 	cpu_map__put(evlist->cpus);