diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/__init__.py
index f033553957..7213d9ffa4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/__init__.py
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ class PlayBook(object):
             pattern=task.play.hosts, inventory=self.inventory, module_name=task.module_name,
             module_args=task.module_args, forks=self.forks,
             remote_pass=self.remote_pass, module_path=self.module_path,
-            timeout=self.timeout, remote_user=task.play.remote_user,
+            timeout=self.timeout, remote_user=task.remote_user,
             remote_port=task.play.remote_port, module_vars=task.module_vars,
             default_vars=task.default_vars, private_key_file=self.private_key_file,
             setup_cache=self.SETUP_CACHE, basedir=task.play.basedir,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
index 67c2e1d3cd..93eb99b1db 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class Task(object):
         'notify', 'module_name', 'module_args', 'module_vars', 'default_vars',
         'play', 'notified_by', 'tags', 'register', 'role_name',
         'delegate_to', 'first_available_file', 'ignore_errors',
-        'local_action', 'transport', 'sudo', 'sudo_user', 'sudo_pass',
+        'local_action', 'transport', 'sudo', 'remote_user', 'sudo_user', 'sudo_pass',
         'items_lookup_plugin', 'items_lookup_terms', 'environment', 'args',
         'any_errors_fatal', 'changed_when', 'failed_when', 'always_run', 'delay', 'retries', 'until'
     ]
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class Task(object):
     VALID_KEYS = [
          'name', 'meta', 'action', 'only_if', 'async', 'poll', 'notify',
          'first_available_file', 'include', 'tags', 'register', 'ignore_errors',
-         'delegate_to', 'local_action', 'transport', 'sudo', 'sudo_user',
+         'delegate_to', 'local_action', 'transport', 'remote_user', 'sudo', 'sudo_user',
          'sudo_pass', 'when', 'connection', 'environment', 'args',
          'any_errors_fatal', 'changed_when', 'failed_when', 'always_run', 'delay', 'retries', 'until'
     ]
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ class Task(object):
         # can be hashes and lists, not just scalars
         self.args         = ds.get('args', {})
 
+        self.remote_user      = ds.get('remote_user', play.playbook.remote_user)
+
         if self.sudo:
             self.sudo_user    = ds.get('sudo_user', play.sudo_user)
             self.sudo_pass    = ds.get('sudo_pass', play.playbook.sudo_pass)