diff --git a/docs/getstarted.rst b/docs/getstarted.rst
index 85808f74..923dee7d 100644
--- a/docs/getstarted.rst
+++ b/docs/getstarted.rst
@@ -86,8 +86,6 @@ Should you choose to store your credentials in another way and not to set the
 `store` flag, you will need to ensure that your application applies the
 following settings before attempting to interact with Trakt
 
-* `trakt.core.api_key`
-  * Note: api_key is deprecated in favor of OAUTH_TOKEN and will go away with the next major release
 * `trakt.core.OAUTH_TOKEN`
 * `trakt.core.CLIENT_ID`
 * `trakt.core.CLIENT_SECRET`
diff --git a/trakt/core.py b/trakt/core.py
index dd3f8931..665d4565 100644
--- a/trakt/core.py
+++ b/trakt/core.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 CONFIG_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), '.pytrakt.json')
 
 #: Your personal Trakt.tv OAUTH Bearer Token
-OAUTH_TOKEN = api_key = None
+OAUTH_TOKEN = None
 
 # OAuth token validity checked
 OAUTH_TOKEN_VALID = None
@@ -476,9 +476,6 @@ def _bootstrap(self):
         if (not OAUTH_TOKEN_VALID and OAUTH_EXPIRES_AT is not None
                 and OAUTH_REFRESH is not None):
             _validate_token(self)
-        # For backwards compatibility with trakt<=2.3.0
-        if api_key is not None and OAUTH_TOKEN is None:
-            OAUTH_TOKEN = api_key
 
     @staticmethod
     def _get_first(f, *args, **kwargs):