diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -2075,8 +2075,7 @@ def remove(ui, repo, m, prefix, after, f
             sub = wctx.sub(subpath)
             try:
                 submatch = matchmod.narrowmatcher(subpath, m)
-                if sub.removefiles(ui, submatch, prefix, after, force,
-                                   subrepos):
+                if sub.removefiles(submatch, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
                     ret = 1
             except error.LookupError:
                 ui.status(_("skipping missing subrepository: %s\n")
diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ class abstractsubrepo(object):
     def forget(self, match, prefix):
         return ([], [])
 
-    def removefiles(self, ui, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
+    def removefiles(self, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
         """remove the matched files from the subrepository and the filesystem,
         possibly by force and/or after the file has been removed from the
         filesystem.  Return 0 on success, 1 on any warning.
@@ -855,8 +855,8 @@ class hgsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
                               os.path.join(prefix, self._path), True)
 
     @annotatesubrepoerror
-    def removefiles(self, ui, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
-        return cmdutil.remove(ui, self._repo, matcher,
+    def removefiles(self, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
+        return cmdutil.remove(self.ui, self._repo, matcher,
                               os.path.join(prefix, self._path), after, force,
                               subrepos)