diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
index 3c0d3f7b5fc..9662b04b3dd 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import time
 import locale
 import logging
 import getpass
+import errno
 from struct import unpack, pack
 from termios import TIOCGWINSZ
 from multiprocessing import Lock
@@ -129,11 +130,19 @@ class Display:
                 msg2 = to_unicode(msg2, self._output_encoding(stderr=stderr))
 
             if not stderr:
-                sys.stdout.write(msg2)
-                sys.stdout.flush()
+                fileobj = sys.stdout
             else:
-                sys.stderr.write(msg2)
-                sys.stderr.flush()
+                fileobj = sys.stderr
+
+            fileobj.write(msg2)
+
+            try:
+                fileobj.flush()
+            except IOError as e:
+                # Ignore EPIPE in case fileobj has been prematurely closed, eg.
+                # when piping to "head -n1"
+                if e.errno != errno.EPIPE:
+                    raise
 
         if logger and not screen_only:
             msg2 = nocolor.lstrip(u'\n')