diff --git a/pkg/client/interfaces.go b/pkg/client/interfaces.go
index cb4c8db2b7..09636968f1 100644
--- a/pkg/client/interfaces.go
+++ b/pkg/client/interfaces.go
@@ -30,12 +30,8 @@ import (
 type ObjectKey = types.NamespacedName
 
 // ObjectKeyFromObject returns the ObjectKey given a runtime.Object
-func ObjectKeyFromObject(obj runtime.Object) (ObjectKey, error) {
-	accessor, err := meta.Accessor(obj)
-	if err != nil {
-		return ObjectKey{}, err
-	}
-	return ObjectKey{Namespace: accessor.GetNamespace(), Name: accessor.GetName()}, nil
+func ObjectKeyFromObject(obj Object) ObjectKey {
+	return ObjectKey{Namespace: obj.GetNamespace(), Name: obj.GetName()}
 }
 
 // Patch is a patch that can be applied to a Kubernetes object.
diff --git a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
index 7932c658f8..462781bd37 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
@@ -195,11 +195,7 @@ const ( // They should complete the sentence "Deployment default/foo has been ..
 //
 // It returns the executed operation and an error.
 func CreateOrUpdate(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, obj client.Object, f MutateFn) (OperationResult, error) {
-	key, err := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj)
-	if err != nil {
-		return OperationResultNone, err
-	}
-
+	key := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj)
 	if err := c.Get(ctx, key, obj); err != nil {
 		if !errors.IsNotFound(err) {
 			return OperationResultNone, err
@@ -236,11 +232,7 @@ func CreateOrUpdate(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, obj client.Object, f M
 //
 // It returns the executed operation and an error.
 func CreateOrPatch(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, obj client.Object, f MutateFn) (OperationResult, error) {
-	key, err := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj)
-	if err != nil {
-		return OperationResultNone, err
-	}
-
+	key := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj)
 	if err := c.Get(ctx, key, obj); err != nil {
 		if !errors.IsNotFound(err) {
 			return OperationResultNone, err
@@ -331,11 +323,11 @@ func CreateOrPatch(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, obj client.Object, f Mu
 }
 
 // mutate wraps a MutateFn and applies validation to its result
-func mutate(f MutateFn, key client.ObjectKey, obj runtime.Object) error {
+func mutate(f MutateFn, key client.ObjectKey, obj client.Object) error {
 	if err := f(); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if newKey, err := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj); err != nil || key != newKey {
+	if newKey := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj); key != newKey {
 		return fmt.Errorf("MutateFn cannot mutate object name and/or object namespace")
 	}
 	return nil