diff --git a/fairseq/checkpoint_utils.py b/fairseq/checkpoint_utils.py
index 66e16ea16d..0284fa2aa1 100644
--- a/fairseq/checkpoint_utils.py
+++ b/fairseq/checkpoint_utils.py
@@ -153,11 +153,11 @@ def load_model_ensemble(filenames, arg_overrides=None, task=None):
             were used during model training
         task (fairseq.tasks.FairseqTask, optional): task to use for loading
     """
-    ensemble, args, _task = _load_model_ensemble(filenames, arg_overrides, task)
+    ensemble, args, _task = load_model_ensemble_and_task(filenames, arg_overrides, task)
     return ensemble, args
 
 
-def _load_model_ensemble(filenames, arg_overrides=None, task=None):
+def load_model_ensemble_and_task(filenames, arg_overrides=None, task=None):
     from fairseq import tasks
 
     ensemble = []
diff --git a/fairseq/models/fairseq_model.py b/fairseq/models/fairseq_model.py
index 1d534188f8..8f52adc7de 100644
--- a/fairseq/models/fairseq_model.py
+++ b/fairseq/models/fairseq_model.py
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ def from_pretrained(cls, model_name_or_path, checkpoint_file='model.pt', data_na
             if os.path.exists(path):
                 kwargs[arg] = path
 
-        models, args, task = checkpoint_utils._load_model_ensemble(
+        models, args, task = checkpoint_utils.load_model_ensemble_and_task(
             [os.path.join(model_path, cpt) for cpt in checkpoint_file.split(':')],
             arg_overrides=kwargs,
         )