diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a281c20e14..5e3cf2883d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ Ansible Changes By Release
 * loop_control now has a pause option to allow pausing for N seconds between loop iterations of a task.
 * New privilege escalation become method `ksu`
 * `raw` now returns `changed: true` to be consistent with shell/command/script modules. Add `changed_when: false` to `raw` tasks to restore the pre-2.2 behavior if necessary.
+* removed previously deprecated ';' as host list separator.
 
 ## 2.1.2 "The Song Remains the Same"
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
index eb498bc238..e68e5c7e52 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
@@ -248,10 +248,6 @@ class Inventory(object):
         if isinstance(pattern, list):
             return list(itertools.chain(*map(cls.split_host_pattern, pattern)))
 
-        if ';' in pattern:
-            patterns = re.split('\s*;\s*', pattern)
-            display.deprecated("Use ',' or ':' instead of ';' to separate host patterns")
-
         # If it's got commas in it, we'll treat it as a straightforward
         # comma-separated list of patterns.