diff --git a/runner/android_junit_runner/CHANGELOG.md b/runner/android_junit_runner/CHANGELOG.md
index 43ae3fda7..5e886f303 100644
--- a/runner/android_junit_runner/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/runner/android_junit_runner/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 **Bug Fixes**
 
+* Catch LinkageError when loading annotation classes (b/536117227)
+
 **New Features**
 
 * Make perfetto trace sections for tests more identifiable by prefixing with "test:" and using fully qualified class name. (b/204992764)
diff --git a/runner/android_junit_runner/java/androidx/test/internal/runner/TestRequestBuilder.java b/runner/android_junit_runner/java/androidx/test/internal/runner/TestRequestBuilder.java
index 043ab6a4f..0ed9bac6f 100644
--- a/runner/android_junit_runner/java/androidx/test/internal/runner/TestRequestBuilder.java
+++ b/runner/android_junit_runner/java/androidx/test/internal/runner/TestRequestBuilder.java
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ private void maybeAddLegacySuppressFilter() {
           (Class<? extends Annotation>)
               Class.forName("android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.Suppress");
       filter = filter.intersect(new AnnotationExclusionFilter(legacySuppressClass));
-    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+    } catch (ClassNotFoundException | LinkageError e) {
       // ignore
     }
   }
@@ -817,7 +817,7 @@ private Class<? extends Annotation> loadAnnotationClass(String className) {
     try {
       Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(className);
       return (Class<? extends Annotation>) clazz;
-    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+    } catch (ClassNotFoundException | LinkageError e) {
       Log.e(TAG, String.format("Could not find annotation class: %s", className));
     } catch (ClassCastException e) {
       Log.e(TAG, String.format("Class %s is not an annotation", className));