diff --git a/Lib/optparse.py b/Lib/optparse.py
index b89a6ce7dfb8..bacef0f311bb 100644
--- a/Lib/optparse.py
+++ b/Lib/optparse.py
@@ -1033,7 +1033,7 @@ def set_usage (self, usage):
             self.usage = "%prog [options]"
         elif usage is SUPPRESS_USAGE:
             self.usage = None
-        elif usage.startswith("usage: "):
+        elif usage.lower().startswith("usage: "):
             # for backwards compatibility with Optik 1.3 and earlier
             self.usage = usage[7:]
         else: