diff --git a/app/controllers/api/v1/statuses_controller.rb b/app/controllers/api/v1/statuses_controller.rb
index 19cc71ae58..2027bc6016 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api/v1/statuses_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/api/v1/statuses_controller.rb
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Api::V1::StatusesController < Api::BaseController
     @status.account.statuses_count = @status.account.statuses_count - 1
     json = render_to_body json: @status, serializer: REST::StatusSerializer, source_requested: true
 
-    RemovalWorker.perform_async(@status.id, { 'redraft' => true })
+    RemovalWorker.perform_async(@status.id, { 'redraft' => !truthy_param?(:delete_media) })
 
     render json: json
   end
diff --git a/app/javascript/mastodon/actions/statuses.js b/app/javascript/mastodon/actions/statuses.js
index 1e4e545d8c..1e5b53c687 100644
--- a/app/javascript/mastodon/actions/statuses.js
+++ b/app/javascript/mastodon/actions/statuses.js
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ export function deleteStatus(id, withRedraft = false) {
 
     dispatch(deleteStatusRequest(id));
 
-    api().delete(`/api/v1/statuses/${id}`).then(response => {
+    api().delete(`/api/v1/statuses/${id}`, { params: { delete_media: !withRedraft } }).then(response => {
       dispatch(deleteStatusSuccess(id));
       dispatch(deleteFromTimelines(id));
       dispatch(importFetchedAccount(response.data.account));
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/v1/statuses_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/v1/statuses_spec.rb
index ddf5945d25..285fa93655 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/v1/statuses_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/v1/statuses_spec.rb
@@ -257,13 +257,30 @@ RSpec.describe '/api/v1/statuses' do
 
       it_behaves_like 'forbidden for wrong scope', 'read read:statuses'
 
-      it 'removes the status', :aggregate_failures do
+      it 'discards the status and schedules removal as a redraft', :aggregate_failures do
         subject
 
         expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
         expect(response.content_type)
           .to start_with('application/json')
         expect(Status.find_by(id: status.id)).to be_nil
+        expect(RemovalWorker).to have_enqueued_sidekiq_job(status.id, { 'redraft' => true })
+      end
+
+      context 'when called with truthy delete_media' do
+        subject do
+          delete "/api/v1/statuses/#{status.id}?delete_media=true", headers: headers
+        end
+
+        it 'discards the status and schedules removal without the redraft flag', :aggregate_failures do
+          subject
+
+          expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
+          expect(response.content_type)
+            .to start_with('application/json')
+          expect(Status.find_by(id: status.id)).to be_nil
+          expect(RemovalWorker).to have_enqueued_sidekiq_job(status.id, { 'redraft' => false })
+        end
       end
     end