diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cleanup.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cleanup.rb
index eda8295d62..6c3b9ffbf7 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cleanup.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/cleanup.rb
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ module Homebrew
         if path.file?
           cleanup_path(path) { path.unlink }
         elsif path.directory? && path.to_s.include?("--")
-          cleanup_path(path) { path.rmdir }
+          cleanup_path(path) { FileUtils.rm_rf path }
         end
         next
       end