diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 861053da20d..6da1f9a0301 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1129,11 +1129,10 @@ def filter_leading_non_json_lines(buf):
     filter only leading lines since multiline JSON is valid.
     '''
 
-    kv_regex = re.compile(r'\w=\w')
     filtered_lines = StringIO.StringIO()
     stop_filtering = False
     for line in buf.splitlines():
-        if stop_filtering or line.startswith('{') or line.startswith('[') or kv_regex.search(line):
+        if stop_filtering or line.startswith('{') or line.startswith('['):
             stop_filtering = True
             filtered_lines.write(line + '\n')
     return filtered_lines.getvalue()
diff --git a/test/units/TestUtils.py b/test/units/TestUtils.py
index 58535f0488f..73ef9796743 100644
--- a/test/units/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/units/TestUtils.py
@@ -453,8 +453,6 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
                          '{"foo": "bar"}\n')
         self.assertEqual(ansible.utils.filter_leading_non_json_lines('a\nb\nansible!\n["foo", "bar"]'),
                          '["foo", "bar"]\n')
-        self.assertEqual(ansible.utils.filter_leading_non_json_lines('a\nb\nansible!\nfoo=bar'),
-                         'foo=bar\n')
 
     def test_boolean(self):
         self.assertEqual(ansible.utils.boolean("true"), True)