diff --git a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
index ea4549cf5..abcb88520 100644
--- a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
+++ b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
@@ -226,10 +226,6 @@ class FreeTypeFont:
         path, size, index, encoding, layout_engine = state
         self.__init__(path, size, index, encoding, layout_engine)
 
-    def _multiline_split(self, text):
-        split_character = "\n" if isinstance(text, str) else b"\n"
-        return text.split(split_character)
-
     def getname(self):
         """
         :return: A tuple of the font family (e.g. Helvetica) and the font style