diff --git a/src/blackd/__init__.py b/src/blackd/__init__.py
index 3e2a7e7c30f..147dd072bb7 100644
--- a/src/blackd/__init__.py
+++ b/src/blackd/__init__.py
@@ -11,13 +11,11 @@
     from aiohttp import web
     import aiohttp_cors
 except ImportError as ie:
-    print(
+    raise ImportError(
         f"aiohttp dependency is not installed: {ie}. "
         + "Please re-install black with the '[d]' extra install "
-        + "to obtain aiohttp_cors: `pip install black[d]`",
-        file=sys.stderr,
+        + "to obtain aiohttp_cors: `pip install black[d]`"
     )
-    sys.exit(-1)
 
 import black
 from black.concurrency import maybe_install_uvloop