diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index f7e4e50bddbd..1a2a605cf068 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -3703,7 +3703,12 @@ static int trace__config(const char *var, const char *value, void *arg)
 		struct option o = OPT_CALLBACK('e', "event", &trace->evlist, "event",
 					       "event selector. use 'perf list' to list available events",
 					       parse_events_option);
-		err = parse_events_option(&o, value, 0);
+		/*
+		 * We can't propagate parse_event_option() return, as it is 1
+		 * for failure while perf_config() expects -1.
+		 */
+		if (parse_events_option(&o, value, 0))
+			err = -1;
 	} else if (!strcmp(var, "trace.show_timestamp")) {
 		trace->show_tstamp = perf_config_bool(var, value);
 	} else if (!strcmp(var, "trace.show_duration")) {