diff --git a/pkgs/applications/video/vlc/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/video/vlc/default.nix
index 365eb8cd991..965a5ff3253 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/video/vlc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/video/vlc/default.nix
@@ -99,6 +99,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = "http://www.videolan.org/vlc/";
     license = licenses.lgpl21Plus;
     platforms = platforms.linux;
-    broken = versionAtLeast qtbase.version "5.15";
+    broken = if qtbase != null then versionAtLeast qtbase.version "5.15" else false;
   };
 }