Why 'Firestick that s—t' became shorthand for pirating our favorite films and TV show

[grimm]

It's a phrase I picked up last year, but I'd assumed it was just another passing internet colloquialism related to using Amazon's Fire TV Stick. 

Oh how naive. 

Over time, I quickly began to glean that this was in fact the new slang for using a Fire TV Stick to somehow pirate movies and TV. But I've run across scores of piracy trends over the years, all of which usually fade into the background after a few months when some new piracy tool comes along.

But this one is different for a couple of reasons. 

First, we're currently in what is widely acknowledged as the "golden age of TV," and prestige TV. There have never been more ways to easily and affordably enter the world of OTT via services like Netflix and Sling TV and devices like the Roku and Apple TV. In such an environment, you'd think piracy would lose some of its underground, rule-breaker cool cachet, but it's role as an illegal practice even by the least tech savvy among us has only gained traction. 

The proof of that came from an unlikely source: Jamie Foxx. Last month, the Oscar winning film and music star (Baby Driver, Collateral, Ray) appeared as a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast. During the interview, Foxx was candid about his personal life, describing the value of having friends around who might tell him one of his movies sucks, and that they might have to "Firestick that shit" [34:30 mark] instead of paying to see it in the theater. 

Similarly, rapper 50 Cent recently went to see the Tupac biopic All Eyez On Me and, disappointed, took to Instagram to say "Man I watched the 2Pac film ... that was some bullshit. Catch that shit on a fire stick." 

When an Oscar-winning celebrity is casually talking about people who choose to watch his movies on a "Firestick," on a podcast with millions of listeners, and one of the most famous rappers alive does the same, it's time to take closer look at what's going on here. 

A quick search on Twitter reveals that "Firestick that shit" is an incredibly common a phrase among many film and TV fans.