wpautop not respected

Hi, I want to remove the <p> tags from around my excerpts. I have
<?php remove_filter ('the_excerpt', 'wpautop'); ?>
before <?php the_excerpt(); ?> on my page. When I deactivate the plugin, the <p> tags are striped. With the plugin on, however, the <p> tags are back. I can’t seem to find a fix for this. Any suggestions?

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/advanced-excerpt/