diff --git a/bilby/core/sampler/emcee.py b/bilby/core/sampler/emcee.py
index 75eaed43da6405808142277a8a4f952029a23d9c..b74314e000e248b28eee3f69f2372fc648c45359 100644
--- a/bilby/core/sampler/emcee.py
+++ b/bilby/core/sampler/emcee.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class Emcee(MCMCSampler):
     """
 
     default_kwargs = dict(nwalkers=500, a=2, args=[], kwargs={},
-                          postargs=None, threads=1, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
+                          postargs=None, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
                           runtime_sortingfn=None, lnprob0=None, rstate0=None,
                           blobs0=None, iterations=100, thin=1, storechain=True, mh_proposal=None)
 
@@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ class Emcee(MCMCSampler):
         if 'iterations' not in kwargs:
             if 'nsteps' in kwargs:
                 kwargs['iterations'] = kwargs.pop('nsteps')
+        if 'threads' in kwargs:
+            if kwargs['threads'] != 1:
+                logger.warning("The 'threads' argument cannot be used for "
+                               "parallelisation. This run will proceed "
+                               "without parallelisation, but consider the use "
+                               "of an appropriate Pool object passed to the "
+                               "'pool' keyword.")
+                kwargs['threads'] = 1
 
     @property
     def sampler_function_kwargs(self):
diff --git a/test/sampler_test.py b/test/sampler_test.py
index cd40784c786189ae8dd640889c9330b8b0ef4dac..0ffbb2bac84f0096fa8dc7e20052b0ad1ee09b78 100644
--- a/test/sampler_test.py
+++ b/test/sampler_test.py
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ class TestEmcee(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_default_kwargs(self):
         expected = dict(nwalkers=500, a=2, args=[], kwargs={},
-                        postargs=None, threads=1, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
+                        postargs=None, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
                         runtime_sortingfn=None, lnprob0=None, rstate0=None,
                         blobs0=None, iterations=100, thin=1, storechain=True, mh_proposal=None
                         )
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ class TestEmcee(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_translate_kwargs(self):
         expected = dict(nwalkers=100, a=2, args=[], kwargs={},
-                        postargs=None, threads=1, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
+                        postargs=None, pool=None, live_dangerously=False,
                         runtime_sortingfn=None, lnprob0=None, rstate0=None,
                         blobs0=None, iterations=100, thin=1, storechain=True, mh_proposal=None)
         for equiv in bilby.core.sampler.base_sampler.MCMCSampler.nwalkers_equiv_kwargs: