diff --git a/cmd/nginx/flags.go b/cmd/nginx/flags.go
index f0545d3d2..6c0c62804 100644
--- a/cmd/nginx/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/nginx/flags.go
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func parseFlags() (bool, *controller.Configuration, error) {
 			`Force namespace isolation. This flag is required to avoid the reference of secrets or
 		configmaps located in a different namespace than the specified in the flag --watch-namespace.`)
 
-		disableNodeList = flags.Bool("disable-node-list", false,
+		_ = flags.Bool("disable-node-list", false,
 			`Disable querying nodes. If --force-namespace-isolation is true, this should also be set. (DEPRECATED)`)
 
 		updateStatusOnShutdown = flags.Bool("update-status-on-shutdown", true, `Indicates if the
@@ -131,6 +131,8 @@ func parseFlags() (bool, *controller.Configuration, error) {
 			`Define the sync frequency upper limit`)
 	)
 
+	flags.MarkDeprecated("disable-node-list", "This flag is currently no-op and will be deleted.")
+
 	flag.Set("logtostderr", "true")
 
 	flags.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
@@ -181,11 +183,6 @@ func parseFlags() (bool, *controller.Configuration, error) {
 		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("Port %v is already in use. Please check the flag --ssl-passtrough-proxy-port", *sslProxyPort)
 	}
 
-	// TODO: remove disableNodeList flag
-	if *disableNodeList {
-		glog.Warningf("%s is DEPRECATED and will be removed in a future version.", disableNodeList)
-	}
-
 	if !*enableSSLChainCompletion {
 		glog.Warningf("Check of SSL certificate chain is disabled (--enable-ssl-chain-completion=false)")
 	}