diff --git a/playbooks/zuul-tarball/run.yaml b/playbooks/zuul-tarball/run.yaml
index d55c5c37dd..6aadbb39e1 100644
--- a/playbooks/zuul-tarball/run.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/zuul-tarball/run.yaml
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
   tasks:
     - name: Build tarball and wheel
       command:
-        cmd: python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
+        cmd: python3 setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
         chdir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"