One does not simply Roku without a wifi connection? WTF?

Are you not allowed to operate a Roku tv without connecting it to wifi?  I've just disconnected from wifi and BOOM!  Obnoxious red blinking light on the front of my tv.  Reconnect to wifi, light stops blinking.  And no, it's not a power thing, or a remote thing (as Google kept insisting), it's 100% wifi vs. no wifi.  

I'll ask out of curiosity if there's a fix for this before I go and slap a piece of duct tape over top of the little red light-- is there a way to turn that red light off (without reconnecting to wifi)?  I found the menu setting to turn the red light off when the tv is powered off, but nothing about a "Shut up red light, I'm aware the wifi isn't connected" setting.  🤣  When I first got this tv about 3 months ago, I refused to connect to wifi straight out of the box, but never had this obnoxious light.  Made the mistake of connecting one day for screen mirroring and now it haunts me.  Maybe I'll factory reset the thing and see if that helps.  

Never trust a television that demands your undivided internet connection!  Ok, that's all.  Cheers!