diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
index de865feefd82..2c5faab43e24 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@
   * integrate screen dpi w/ ppi and text
 
 """
-import threading
+try:
+    import threading
+except ImportError:
+    import dummy_threading as threading
 import numpy as np
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from math import radians, cos, sin
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
index d1e144683be8..791a70087382 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import subprocess
 import sys
-from threading import Timer
+try:
+    from threading import Timer
+except ImportError:
+    from dummy_threading import Timer
 import warnings
 
 from matplotlib import afm, cbook, ft2font, rcParams, get_cachedir