diff --git a/IPython/terminal/interactiveshell.py b/IPython/terminal/interactiveshell.py
index 75cf25ea66e..37e0b86981e 100644
--- a/IPython/terminal/interactiveshell.py
+++ b/IPython/terminal/interactiveshell.py
@@ -914,6 +914,15 @@ def inputhook(self, context):
 
     active_eventloop = None
     def enable_gui(self, gui=None):
+        if self.simple_prompt is True and gui is not None:
+            print(
+                f'Cannot install event loop hook for "{gui}" when running with `--simple-prompt`.'
+            )
+            print(
+                "NOTE: Tk is supported natively; use Tk apps and Tk backends with `--simple-prompt`."
+            )
+            return
+
         if self._inputhook is None and gui is None:
             print("No event loop hook running.")
             return