diff --git a/react.gradle b/react.gradle
index 04b94aad9ee513..678aee401b49de 100644
--- a/react.gradle
+++ b/react.gradle
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ afterEvaluate {
                     def hermesFlags;
                     def hbcTempFile = file("${jsBundleFile}.hbc")
                     exec {
-                        if (targetName.toLowerCase().contains("release")) {
+                        if (!targetName.toLowerCase().contains("debug")) {
                             // Can't use ?: since that will also substitute valid empty lists
                             hermesFlags = config.hermesFlagsRelease
                             if (hermesFlags == null) hermesFlags = ["-O", "-output-source-map"]
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ afterEvaluate {
         // This should really be done by packaging all Hermes related libs into
         // two separate HermesDebug and HermesRelease AARs, but until then we'll
         // kludge it by deleting the .so files out of the /transforms/ directory.
-        def isRelease = targetName.toLowerCase().contains("release")
+        def isRelease = !targetName.toLowerCase().contains("debug")
         def libDir = "$buildDir/intermediates/transforms/"
         def vmSelectionAction = {
             fileTree(libDir).matching {