diff --git a/src/operator/tensor/elemwise_binary_op_basic.cc b/src/operator/tensor/elemwise_binary_op_basic.cc
index 3f607b2cc23e..054e12057008 100644
--- a/src/operator/tensor/elemwise_binary_op_basic.cc
+++ b/src/operator/tensor/elemwise_binary_op_basic.cc
@@ -114,29 +114,6 @@ The storage type of ``elemwise_add`` output depends on storage types of inputs
 // this must differ from elemwise_add to prevent add to optimization in forward pass.
 MXNET_OPERATOR_REGISTER_BINARY_WITH_SPARSE_CPU(_grad_add, op::mshadow_op::plus);
 
-static void _backward_ElemwiseAddEx(const nnvm::NodeAttrs& attrs,
-                                    const OpContext& ctx,
-                                    const std::vector<NDArray>& inputs,
-                                    const std::vector<OpReqType>& req,
-                                    const std::vector<NDArray>& outputs) {
-  CHECK_EQ(inputs.size(), 1U);
-  CHECK_EQ(outputs.size(), 2U);
-#if MXNET_USE_MKLDNN == 1
-  if (inputs[0].IsMKLDNNData()) {
-    MKLDNNRun(MKLDNNCopy, attrs, ctx, inputs[0], req[0], outputs[0]);
-    MKLDNNRun(MKLDNNCopy, attrs, ctx, inputs[0], req[1], outputs[1]);
-    return;
-  } else if (common::ContainsOnlyStorage(inputs, kDefaultStorage)) {
-    FallBackCompute(
-        ElemwiseBinaryOp::BackwardUseNone<cpu, mshadow_op::identity, mshadow_op::identity>,
-            attrs, ctx, inputs, req, outputs);
-    return;
-  }
-#endif
-  ElemwiseBinaryOp::BackwardUseNoneEx<cpu, mshadow_op::identity, mshadow_op::identity>(
-      attrs, ctx, inputs, req, outputs);
-}
-
 static inline bool ElemwiseAddBackwardStorageType(const nnvm::NodeAttrs& attrs,
                                                   const int dev_mask,
                                                   DispatchMode* dispatch_mode,