diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/7374-fix-selective-callback-taskname-length.yml b/changelogs/fragments/7374-fix-selective-callback-taskname-length.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1c48f48e05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/7374-fix-selective-callback-taskname-length.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "selective callback plugin - fix length of task name lines in output always being 3 characters longer than desired (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/7374)."
diff --git a/plugins/callback/selective.py b/plugins/callback/selective.py
index 526975bd2c..610bb4784e 100644
--- a/plugins/callback/selective.py
+++ b/plugins/callback/selective.py
@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@ class CallbackModule(CallbackBase):
             line_length = 120
             if self.last_skipped:
                 print()
-            msg = colorize("# {0} {1}".format(task_name,
-                                              '*' * (line_length - len(task_name))), 'bold')
+            line = "# {0} ".format(task_name)
+            msg = colorize("{0}{1}".format(line, '*' * (line_length - len(line))), 'bold')
             print(msg)
 
     def _indent_text(self, text, indent_level):