diff --git a/app/services/user_anonymizer.rb b/app/services/user_anonymizer.rb
index f78c9e6497d..35e77ea88d0 100644
--- a/app/services/user_anonymizer.rb
+++ b/app/services/user_anonymizer.rb
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ class UserAnonymizer
       @prev_email = @user.email
       @prev_username = @user.username
 
-      @user.update_attribute(:uploaded_avatar_id, nil)
-      raise "Failed to change username" unless UsernameChanger.change(@user, make_anon_username)
+      unless UsernameChanger.new(@user, make_anon_username).change(run_update_job: false)
+        raise "Failed to change username"
+      end
 
       @user.reload
       @user.password = SecureRandom.hex
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ class UserAnonymizer
       @user.name = SiteSetting.full_name_required ? @user.username : nil
       @user.date_of_birth = nil
       @user.title = nil
+      @user.uploaded_avatar_id = nil
 
       if @opts.has_key?(:anonymize_ip)
         @user.ip_address = @opts[:anonymize_ip]
@@ -63,6 +65,11 @@ class UserAnonymizer
       @user_history = log_action
     end
 
+    UsernameChanger.update_username(user_id: @user.id,
+                                    old_username: @prev_username,
+                                    new_username: @user.username,
+                                    avatar_template: @user.avatar_template)
+
     Jobs.enqueue(:anonymize_user,
                  user_id: @user.id,
                  prev_email: @prev_email,
diff --git a/app/services/user_merger.rb b/app/services/user_merger.rb
index c8e8cc530ec..5f28717dede 100644
--- a/app/services/user_merger.rb
+++ b/app/services/user_merger.rb
@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@ class UserMerger
   protected
 
   def update_username
-    Jobs::UpdateUsername.new.execute(user_id: @source_user.id,
-                                     old_username: @source_user.username,
-                                     new_username: @target_user.username,
-                                     avatar_template: @target_user.avatar_template)
+    UsernameChanger.update_username(user_id: @source_user.id,
+                                    old_username: @source_user.username,
+                                    new_username: @target_user.username,
+                                    avatar_template: @target_user.avatar_template,
+                                    asynchronous: false)
   end
 
   def move_posts
diff --git a/app/services/username_changer.rb b/app/services/username_changer.rb
index e5df339c12e..70ce9caabb5 100644
--- a/app/services/username_changer.rb
+++ b/app/services/username_changer.rb
@@ -13,31 +13,37 @@ class UsernameChanger
     self.new(user, new_username, actor).change
   end
 
-  def change(asynchronous: true)
+  def change(asynchronous: true, run_update_job: true)
     if @actor && @old_username != @new_username
       StaffActionLogger.new(@actor).log_username_change(@user, @old_username, @new_username)
     end
 
     @user.username = @new_username
+
     if @user.save
-
-      args = {
-        user_id: @user.id,
-        old_username: @old_username,
-        new_username: @new_username,
-        avatar_template: @user.avatar_template
-      }
-
-      if asynchronous
-        Jobs.enqueue(:update_username, args)
-      else
-        Jobs::UpdateUsername.new.execute(args)
-      end
-
+      UsernameChanger.update_username(user_id: @user.id,
+                                      old_username: @old_username,
+                                      new_username: @new_username,
+                                      avatar_template: @user.avatar_template,
+                                      asynchronous: asynchronous) if run_update_job
       return true
     end
 
     false
   end
 
+  def self.update_username(user_id:, old_username:, new_username:, avatar_template:, asynchronous: true)
+    args = {
+      user_id: user_id,
+      old_username: old_username,
+      new_username: new_username,
+      avatar_template: avatar_template
+    }
+
+    if asynchronous
+      Jobs.enqueue(:update_username, args)
+    else
+      Jobs::UpdateUsername.new.execute(args)
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/lib/tasks/users.rake b/lib/tasks/users.rake
index 877d270f68e..83c3cf28c03 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/users.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/users.rake
@@ -73,11 +73,7 @@ task "users:update_posts", [:old_username, :current_username] => [:environment]
   end
 
   user = find_user(current_username)
-  Jobs::UpdateUsername.new.execute(
-    user_id: user.id,
-    old_username: old_username,
-    new_username: user.username,
-    avatar_template: user.avatar_template)
+  UsernameChanger.update_username(user.id, old_username, user.username, user.avatar_template)
 
   puts "", "Username updated!", ""
 end