diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 39decd9a55ccc7..bc0a01d985520b 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 # pyenv will alert which shims are available and then will fail the build.
 _=[ 'exec' '/bin/sh' '-c' '''
 test ${TRAVIS} && exec python "$0" "$@"  # workaround for pyenv on Travis CI
+test ${FORCE_PYTHON2} && exec python2 "$0" "$@"  # workaround for gclient
 which python3.8 >/dev/null && exec python3.8 "$0" "$@"
 which python3.7 >/dev/null && exec python3.7 "$0" "$@"
 which python3.6 >/dev/null && exec python3.6 "$0" "$@"