diff --git a/cmd/kube-proxy/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-proxy/app/server.go
index 5e010d3e4e9..3b97c44adfa 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-proxy/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-proxy/app/server.go
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ func (o *Options) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 
 	fs.BoolVar(&o.CleanupAndExit, "cleanup", o.CleanupAndExit, "If true cleanup iptables and ipvs rules and exit.")
 	fs.BoolVar(&o.CleanupIPVS, "cleanup-ipvs", o.CleanupIPVS, "If true and --cleanup is specified, kube-proxy will also flush IPVS rules, in addition to normal cleanup.")
+	fs.MarkDeprecated("cleanup-ipvs", "In a future release, running --cleanup will always flush IPVS rules")
 
 	fs.Var(utilflag.IPVar{Val: &o.config.BindAddress}, "bind-address", "The IP address for the proxy server to serve on (set to `0.0.0.0` for all IPv4 interfaces and `::` for all IPv6 interfaces)")
 	fs.Var(utilflag.IPVar{Val: &o.config.HealthzBindAddress}, "healthz-bind-address", "The IP address for the health check server to serve on (set to `0.0.0.0` for all IPv4 interfaces and `::` for all IPv6 interfaces)")