diff --git a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/loaned_message.hpp b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/loaned_message.hpp
index 3b94d86ae0..530ddc5024 100644
--- a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/loaned_message.hpp
+++ b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/loaned_message.hpp
@@ -179,20 +179,6 @@ class LoanedMessage
     return *message_;
   }
 
-  /// Release ownership of the ROS message instance.
-  /**
-   * A call to `release()` will unmanage the memory for the ROS message.
-   * That means that the destructor of this class will not free the memory on scope exit.
-   *
-   * \return Raw pointer to the message instance.
-   */
-  MessageT * release()
-  {
-    auto msg = message_;
-    message_ = nullptr;
-    return msg;
-  }
-
 protected:
   const rclcpp::PublisherBase & pub_;
 
diff --git a/rclcpp/test/rclcpp/test_loaned_message.cpp b/rclcpp/test/rclcpp/test_loaned_message.cpp
index 20a2e3b1ee..f5c6afc4df 100644
--- a/rclcpp/test/rclcpp/test_loaned_message.cpp
+++ b/rclcpp/test/rclcpp/test_loaned_message.cpp
@@ -60,26 +60,3 @@ TEST_F(TestLoanedMessage, loan_from_pub) {
 
   SUCCEED();
 }
-
-TEST_F(TestLoanedMessage, release) {
-  auto node = std::make_shared<rclcpp::Node>("loaned_message_test_node");
-  auto pub = node->create_publisher<MessageT>("loaned_message_test_topic", 1);
-
-  MessageT * msg = nullptr;
-  {
-    auto loaned_msg = pub->borrow_loaned_message();
-    ASSERT_TRUE(loaned_msg.is_valid());
-    loaned_msg.get().float64_value = 42.0f;
-    ASSERT_EQ(42.0f, loaned_msg.get().float64_value);
-    msg = loaned_msg.release();
-    // call destructor implicitly.
-    // destructor not allowed to free memory because of not having ownership
-    // of the data after a call to release.
-  }
-
-  ASSERT_EQ(42.0f, msg->float64_value);
-
-  msg->~MessageT();
-  pub->get_allocator()->deallocate(msg, 1);
-  SUCCEED();
-}