diff --git a/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorage.php b/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorage.php
index a3f6d0fa95990a8..38781664fce49df 100644
--- a/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorage.php
+++ b/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorage.php
@@ -29,14 +29,4 @@ class RoleStorage extends ConfigEntityStorage implements RoleStorageInterface {
     return $has_permission;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * {@inheritdoc}
-   */
-  public function deleteRoleReferences(array $rids) {
-    // Remove the role from all users.
-    db_delete('user__roles')
-      ->condition('target_id', $rids)
-      ->execute();
-  }
-
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorageInterface.php b/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorageInterface.php
index 1764de638596a98..7ad3511e21caac5 100644
--- a/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorageInterface.php
+++ b/core/modules/user/src/RoleStorageInterface.php
@@ -27,12 +27,4 @@ interface RoleStorageInterface extends ConfigEntityStorageInterface {
    */
   public function isPermissionInRoles($permission, array $rids);
 
-  /**
-   * Delete role references.
-   *
-   * @param array $rids
-   *   The list of role IDs being deleted. The storage should
-   *   remove permission and user references to this role.
-   */
-  public function deleteRoleReferences(array $rids);
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/user/src/Tests/UserRoleDeleteTest.php b/core/modules/user/src/Tests/UserRoleDeleteTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..99750460d4f9673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/modules/user/src/Tests/UserRoleDeleteTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Contains \Drupal\user\Tests\UserRoleDeleteTest.
+ */
+
+namespace Drupal\user\Tests;
+
+use Drupal\simpletest\KernelTestBase;
+use Drupal\user\Entity\User;
+
+/**
+ * Tests the handling of user_role entity from the user module
+ *
+ * @group user
+ */
+class UserRoleDeleteTest extends KernelTestBase {
+
+  /**
+   * Modules to enable.
+   *
+   * @var array
+   */
+  public static $modules = array('system', 'user', 'field');
+
+  protected function setUp() {
+    parent::setUp();
+    $this->installEntitySchema('user');
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Tests removal of role references on role entity delete.
+   *
+   * @see user_user_role_delete()
+   */
+  public function testRoleDeleteUserRoleReferenceDelete() {
+    // Create two test roles.
+    $role_storage = $this->container->get('entity.manager')->getStorage('user_role');
+    $role_storage->create(array('id' => 'test_role_one'))->save();
+    $role_storage->create(array('id' => 'test_role_two'))->save();
+
+    // Create user and assign both test roles.
+    $values = array(
+        'uid' => 1,
+        'roles' => array('test_role_one', 'test_role_two'),
+    );
+    $user = User::create($values);
+    $user->save();
+
+    // Check that user has both roles.
+    $this->assertTrue($user->hasRole('test_role_one'));
+    $this->assertTrue($user->hasRole('test_role_two'));
+
+    // Delete test role one.
+    $test_role_one = $role_storage->load('test_role_one');
+    $test_role_one->delete();
+
+    // Load user again from the database.
+    $user = User::load($user->id());
+
+    // Check that user does not have role one anymore, still has role two.
+    $this->assertFalse($user->hasRole('test_role_one'));
+    $this->assertTrue($user->hasRole('test_role_two'));
+
+    // Create new role with same name.
+    $role_storage->create(array('id' => 'test_role_one'))->save();
+
+    // Load user again from the database.
+    $user = User::load($user->id());
+
+    // Check that user does not have role one.
+    $this->assertFalse($user->hasRole('test_role_one'));
+    $this->assertTrue($user->hasRole('test_role_two'));
+
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/modules/user/src/UserStorage.php b/core/modules/user/src/UserStorage.php
index b51b1eec764c467..f404b8d43f4232c 100644
--- a/core/modules/user/src/UserStorage.php
+++ b/core/modules/user/src/UserStorage.php
@@ -116,4 +116,16 @@ class UserStorage extends SqlContentEntityStorage implements UserStorageInterfac
     $this->resetCache(array($account->id()));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public function deleteRoleReferences(array $rids) {
+    // Remove the role from all users.
+    $this->database->delete('user__roles')
+        ->condition('roles_target_id', $rids)
+        ->execute();
+
+    $this->resetCache();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/user/src/UserStorageInterface.php b/core/modules/user/src/UserStorageInterface.php
index 104c4aecd03cc72..2614bc34dfa5515 100644
--- a/core/modules/user/src/UserStorageInterface.php
+++ b/core/modules/user/src/UserStorageInterface.php
@@ -32,4 +32,13 @@ interface UserStorageInterface extends EntityStorageInterface{
    */
   public function updateLastAccessTimestamp(AccountInterface $account, $timestamp);
 
+  /**
+   * Delete role references.
+   *
+   * @param array $rids
+   *   The list of role IDs being deleted. The storage should
+   *   remove permission and user references to this role.
+   */
+  public function deleteRoleReferences(array $rids);
+
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/user/user.module b/core/modules/user/user.module
index b3fe3222d92738a..7995031993699a3 100644
--- a/core/modules/user/user.module
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.module
@@ -1079,6 +1079,10 @@ function user_user_role_insert(RoleInterface $role) {
  * Implements hook_ENTITY_TYPE_delete() for user_role entities.
  */
 function user_user_role_delete(RoleInterface $role) {
+  // Delete role references for all users.
+  $user_storage = \Drupal::entityManager()->getStorage('user');
+  $user_storage->deleteRoleReferences(array($role->id()));
+
   // Ignore the authenticated and anonymous roles or the role is being synced.
   if (in_array($role->id(), array(DRUPAL_AUTHENTICATED_RID, DRUPAL_ANONYMOUS_RID)) || $role->isSyncing()) {
     return;