diff --git a/src/gallium/drivers/i915/i915_state.c b/src/gallium/drivers/i915/i915_state.c
index ddc27098de2..03d218e984e 100644
--- a/src/gallium/drivers/i915/i915_state.c
+++ b/src/gallium/drivers/i915/i915_state.c
@@ -745,17 +745,11 @@ static void i915_set_fragment_sampler_views(struct pipe_context *pipe,
       return;
 
    for (i = 0; i < num; i++) {
-      /* Note: we're using pipe_sampler_view_release() here to work around
-       * a possible crash when the old view belongs to another context that
-       * was already destroyed.
-       */
-      pipe_sampler_view_release(pipe, &i915->fragment_sampler_views[i]);
-      pipe_sampler_view_reference(&i915->fragment_sampler_views[i],
-                                  views[i]);
+      pipe_sampler_view_reference(&i915->fragment_sampler_views[i], views[i]);
    }
 
    for (i = num; i < i915->num_fragment_sampler_views; i++)
-      pipe_sampler_view_release(pipe, &i915->fragment_sampler_views[i]);
+      pipe_sampler_view_reference(&i915->fragment_sampler_views[i], NULL);
 
    i915->num_fragment_sampler_views = num;