diff --git a/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php b/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
index cb92daa3d5a8c..7e047c4808081 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
@@ -1732,8 +1732,6 @@ private function skip_script_data(): bool {
 	 * @phpstan-impure
 	 */
 	private function parse_next_tag(): bool {
-		$this->after_tag();
-
 		$html       = $this->html;
 		$doc_length = strlen( $html );
 		$was_at     = $this->bytes_already_parsed;