Pop Culture dictionary
Nutflix
[nuht-fliks]
What does Nutflix mean?
Nutflix is a fake startup company made up by comedian John Oliver in support of net neutrality in 2014. Oliver imagined it to play only videos of men getting kicked in the crotch, though many others propose it as a name for adult film rental or streaming services.
Related words:
Where does Nutflix come from?
In 2003, an internet user facetiously proposed Nutflix for a pornographic DVD rental company—a term, concept, and apparent hope that continued to 2010, when it was so defined on Urban Dictionary.
On a 2014 episode of his HBO news-satire show Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver blasted policies against net neutrality by arguing an internet “fast line” would allow powerful entities, like Netflix, to squeeze out his rhetorical startup, Nutflix, which he imagined exclusively showed videos of men getting kicked in the nuts—just like Oliver feels the elimination of net neutrality does for consumers.
Oliver’s segment went viral, as the comedian’s work often does, ushering Nutflix into meme-dom. By the end of the year, searches for Nutflix soared, perhaps from people hoping Oliver’s site was real. Merchandise and Facebook pages popped up,too.
As of summer 2018, though, neither the porno-renting nor groin-rending Nutflix have come to pass.
Examples of Nutflix
Who uses Nutflix?
Nutflix usually refers to the imaginary company by John Oliver, which means the term has also become associated with fights for net neutrality.
Whenever I see @netflix I still can’t help thinking of @iamjohnoliver‘s #netneutrality ‘Nutflix’ joke: https://t.co/tQiCwMJ12S
— Robin Winslow (@nottrobin) November 17, 2016
That said, there are still plenty of people hoping that a porno delivery service called Nutflix someday becomes a reality. (Hint hint: It already does. It’s called the internet.) And each time somebody proposes Nutflix, they think they are the first and cleverest one to come up with the idea.
Someone should make a porn site named Nutflix
— 8008135 (@sregoRhteS) July 17, 2018
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Nutflix like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Nutflix that will help our users expand their word mastery.