diff --git a/tools/perf/util/cgroup.c b/tools/perf/util/cgroup.c
index 4dd52feb1ae63e764f26d92879cf036d25eb195d..b078d54d424557abe83f8eb9a14c9ca29f59a02d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/cgroup.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/cgroup.c
@@ -135,9 +135,8 @@ static int add_cgroup(struct perf_evlist *evlist, char *str)
 			goto found;
 		n++;
 	}
-	if (refcount_dec_and_test(&cgrp->refcnt))
-		free(cgrp);
 
+	cgroup__put(cgrp);
 	return -1;
 found:
 	counter->cgrp = cgrp;
@@ -151,7 +150,7 @@ static void cgroup__delete(struct cgroup *cgroup)
 	free(cgroup);
 }
 
-void close_cgroup(struct cgroup *cgrp)
+void cgroup__put(struct cgroup *cgrp)
 {
 	if (cgrp && refcount_dec_and_test(&cgrp->refcnt)) {
 		cgroup__delete(cgrp);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/cgroup.h b/tools/perf/util/cgroup.h
index 934daa8e4c197729bcef4ce2e611fa58d8fed4ef..69169fbf8d1388668017caf3c7f635a70cb61789 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/cgroup.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/cgroup.h
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ struct cgroup {
 
 
 extern int nr_cgroups; /* number of explicit cgroups defined */
-void close_cgroup(struct cgroup *cgrp);
+
+void cgroup__put(struct cgroup *cgroup);
 
 int parse_cgroups(const struct option *opt, const char *str, int unset);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
index b56e1c2ddaee2e320a7ce437434557f901a8dc47..f1f883bb41a8d1853326058eb94e59237b51e95a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
@@ -1233,7 +1233,7 @@ void perf_evsel__exit(struct perf_evsel *evsel)
 	perf_evsel__free_fd(evsel);
 	perf_evsel__free_id(evsel);
 	perf_evsel__free_config_terms(evsel);
-	close_cgroup(evsel->cgrp);
+	cgroup__put(evsel->cgrp);
 	cpu_map__put(evsel->cpus);
 	cpu_map__put(evsel->own_cpus);
 	thread_map__put(evsel->threads);