diff --git a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
index 08ea9ae..e90d45e 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
+++ b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
@@ -225,16 +225,6 @@ _get_encoding(MYSQL *mysql)
     return cs.csname;
 }
 
-static char _mysql_thread_safe__doc__[] =
-"Indicates whether the client is compiled as thread-safe.";
-
-static PyObject *_mysql_thread_safe(
-    PyObject *self,
-    PyObject *noargs)
-{
-    return PyInt_FromLong((long)mysql_thread_safe());
-}
-
 static char _mysql_ResultObject__doc__[] =
 "result(connection, use=0, converter={}) -- Result set from a query.\n\
 \n\
@@ -2585,12 +2575,6 @@ _mysql_methods[] = {
         METH_NOARGS,
         _mysql_get_client_info__doc__
     },
-    {
-        "thread_safe",
-        (PyCFunction)_mysql_thread_safe,
-        METH_NOARGS,
-        _mysql_thread_safe__doc__
-    },
     {NULL, NULL} /* sentinel */
 };
 
diff --git a/doc/user_guide.rst b/doc/user_guide.rst
index c83c3f3..173918d 100644
--- a/doc/user_guide.rst
+++ b/doc/user_guide.rst
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ MySQL C API function mapping
  ``mysql_stat()``                   ``conn.stat()``
  ``mysql_store_result()``           ``conn.store_result()``
  ``mysql_thread_id()``              ``conn.thread_id()``
- ``mysql_thread_safe_client()``     ``conn.thread_safe_client()``
  ``mysql_use_result()``             ``conn.use_result()``
  ``mysql_warning_count()``          ``conn.warning_count()``
  ``CLIENT_*``                       ``MySQLdb.constants.CLIENT.*``
diff --git a/tests/test_MySQLdb_nonstandard.py b/tests/test_MySQLdb_nonstandard.py
index 55cfc63..2b33c39 100644
--- a/tests/test_MySQLdb_nonstandard.py
+++ b/tests/test_MySQLdb_nonstandard.py
@@ -35,9 +35,6 @@ class TestCoreModule(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_client_info(self):
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(_mysql.get_client_info(), str))
 
-    def test_thread_safe(self):
-        self.assertTrue(isinstance(_mysql.thread_safe(), int))
-
     def test_escape_string(self):
         self.assertEqual(_mysql.escape_string(b'foo"bar'),
                          b'foo\\"bar', "escape byte string")