diff --git a/direct/src/distributed/DistributedNodeAI.py b/direct/src/distributed/DistributedNodeAI.py
index 75fbea6d6c..3584936457 100644
--- a/direct/src/distributed/DistributedNodeAI.py
+++ b/direct/src/distributed/DistributedNodeAI.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class DistributedNodeAI(DistributedObjectAI.DistributedObjectAI, NodePath):
 
     def setParentStr(self, parentToken):
         self.notify.debug('setParentStr(%s): %s' % (self.doId, parentToken))
-        if len(parentTokenStr) > 0:
+        if len(parentToken) > 0:
             self.do_setParent(parentToken)
 
     def setParent(self, parentToken):