diff --git a/Lib/tarfile.py b/Lib/tarfile.py
index f4dd0fdab4a3e4..42bc80e3ec72cf 100755
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py
@@ -2408,7 +2408,7 @@ def _extract_member(self, tarinfo, targetpath, set_attrs=True,
 
         # Create all upper directories.
         upperdirs = os.path.dirname(targetpath)
-        if upperdirs and not os.path.exists(upperdirs):
+        if upperdirs:
             # Create directories that are not part of the archive with
             # default permissions.
             os.makedirs(upperdirs, exist_ok=True)