A Texas comedian, Deric Cahill, probably knew his Lovesac sectional would need some assembly. However, when the mountain of boxes reached his doorstep, he went on to have a bit of a hilarious meltdown. Cahill then filmed his efforts to assemble his new sectional, complete with a heavy dose of ranting and even some singing. The resulting post racked up over 15.2 million views across TikTok and Instagram.
In his video, Deric vented his frustration. “Are you sh**ting me?” he asked, pointing to the boxes filling his pretty sizable living room. “This feels like corporate f**king terrorism. Were they coming up with the business idea like, you know what we should do? Charge a f**king sh**load of money for our couches and then make everyone be factory workers.”
As he counted through the various components of the first box, including 1 shoe, 2 feet, and 9 felt pads, he joked, “It’s like a f**king Christmas Story.” Then he sang, “8 suicidal thoughts!” Cahill grudgingly donned gloves as advised by his viewers, wrestled it all together, only to realize, “Wow, only f**king 80 more boxes to go.” He ranted, grumbled, beat up his gloves, and cursed and assembled. Then he noted in the caption, “Four hours later, we have couches again.”
The start of a PR faux pas
Cahill’s rambling struck a chord. Mostly because no one expects the amount of work needed at that price point. As one user noted, “For the price they charge, someone should come and put it together for you. Just saying.” Many praised their cheaper couches from stores like Costco. That was already a strong conversation, but then Lovesac chose the worst way to turn it into a Brand Moment. To quote one user: “I spent $7000 on my lovesac couch. I love it but now hate them for their response.”
The CEO, Shawn, reached out to Deric in the comments. However, before anything came of that, the social media team made multiple posts to poke fun at Deric. The post featured a woman putting on a sofa cover with the message, “this and not getting the ick from a grown man needing tiny little gloves to assemble a couch.” The videos weren’t well received, and most have been deleted. Many viewers felt like the company was punching down.
Cahil went on to put the events in a timeline in another post, which reached over 10.4 million views. Despite the “bullying” posts, he decided to meet with them. The meeting didn’t go well. Cahill noted that the company’s social media strategy missed the mark, saying, “All they had to do was reply to my video and be like, holy sh*t, that f**king sucks. We should make it better. And everyone would have been like, oh my f**king god. Lovesac! I love you all.”
Shawn himself made two cringeworthy videos on his personal socials. In a post that is now only on Instagram, he “spoke” on behalf of his legal team to offer a “new pair of size small floral print gardening gloves to mitigate your losses.” His tone is a parody of being professional. He also made poor responses to a few jokes Cahill cracked, including a question about Cahill’s wife. When that video imploded, he tried again.
In the second video, Shawn attempts jolliness, saying he had assembled many a couch himself. He admits, “The setup is no joke. And Derek, I thought your love sac rant was not just wildly funny, but totally accurate.” He went on to try and apologize for the earlier responses. He said, “I clearly understand the passion of the Derek Cahill fans now, and I am impressed. I apologize for being unfunny. We’ll leave the comedy writing to you in the future, I promise.”
Belatedly, Shawn promised a permanent solution, but the damage to the brand was done, and many just found him disingenuous. One user asked, “Is the actual apology coming in a separate box?” In the first video, one user passed a stark judgment, “Woof. This is going to be studied one day on how not to respond on social media.”
Lovesac is often praised for its high-quality, modular, and washable designs. In a review, Cosmopolitan also praised the furniture as being highly customizable and durable. However, they also noted the tediousness of the assembly. Cosmopolitan wrote that while you can hire help, like a TaskRabbit, to handle the setup, it’s definitely not a simple task for the average person. Which is disappointing with the high price tag.
On TikTok, one user summed up the overall sentiment best. They wrote, “You touched a nerve, brother. The American consumer is TIRED of overpaying and under receiving.” For now, Deric’s unintentional “couch war” seems to have had a larger casualty: Lovesac’s image.
Published: Sep 5, 2026 01:46 pm