diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
index 21fb820b625b..e4378cc9ab3e 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
@@ -2514,8 +2514,11 @@ static struct thread *get_idle_thread(int cpu)
 		idle_threads[cpu] = thread__new(0, 0);
 
 		if (idle_threads[cpu]) {
-			if (init_idle_thread(idle_threads[cpu]) < 0)
+			if (init_idle_thread(idle_threads[cpu]) < 0) {
+				/* clean up so next call doesn't find a half-initialized thread */
+				thread__zput(idle_threads[cpu]);
 				return NULL;
+			}
 		}
 	}