Morry Matson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Morry Matson called the police after Camilla Hudson tried to use a coupon that he didn’t recognize. She said the call was made after she began filming their response when she was told it might be a counterfeit coupon. The video only catches the last part of his phone call, which has quickly gone viral. Matson is an LGBT conservative who voted for President Donald Trump and recently became president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Illinois, an LGBT political group. He’s running for alderman in Chicago and part of his campaign platform mentions helping African Americans. He has not yet publicly spoken about the incident since the video was released. Here is what you need to know about Morry Matson and what happened.

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1. Morry Matson Called the Police after Camilla Hudson Tried to Use a Coupon that He & Another Manager Didn’t Recognize

The video of Morry Matson has quickly gone viral after it was posted to Facebook, and some who saw it have said it was another example of someone calling the police after a black man or woman did something innocent. In this case, Camilla Hudson tried to use a coupon that was sent to her, and Matson and another store manager didn’t recognize the coupon. She said that Matson called the police after she had asked another manager for his name and title in the store, and pulled out her phone to document what was happening. According to Hudson’s Facebook post, Matson called the police twice and they came out after he said that Hudson was harassing him.

Matson himself has not yet publicly spoken about what happened.

Hudson shared a video and explanation on Facebook. She said the coupon was sent to her by a product manufacturer because her product had been defective. The manager on duty at CVS had never seen the coupon before and said he thought it was fraudulent. Hudson said she asked for his name and title so she could send a complaint about how she was being treated, and he retreated to the back of the store. She said that was when Morry Matson, who had previously been helping her, stepped in. Also a manager at CVS, according to Hudson, Matson told her that he would call the police if she didn’t leave.

You can see a video above of the last part of Matson’s phone call. Here’s what Hudson wrote on Facebook:

So, THIS just happened: I had the police called on me for attempting to use a coupon @ the CVS Pharmacy located at 6150 N. Broadway in Chicago! I stopped in to make a purchase using a coupon mailed to me by the product manufacturer, as replacement for problematic/defective product. The manager on duty said that he’d never seen a coupon like the one I had and said that he thought it was fraudulent. When I asked for his name and his title/role within the store, he became agitated and rude. When I pulled out my phone to document what happened and exactly what he’d said to me (AND how he’d said it!) he turned his back and walked away from me. When I followed him and demanded that he answer my question, he ran to the back of the store and slammed a door in my face. Meanwhile, the other manager, who’d been helping me initially, came running back to tell me that I’d better leave the store immediately, because he’d called the police.

On the video, you can hear Matson telling the police that she’s an African American female and he describes what she’s wearing. Hudson said, “I’m not African American, I’m black. Black isn’t a bad word.” Hudson told him to tell the police that she would be there when they arrived. He then spelled her name and his name for 911 dispatch.

Hudson noted on Facebook that her original post about what happened had been taken down by Facebook because it violated their policies. She thought maybe it was because she had posted Matson’s Facebook page, so she posted the video and her story again without the screenshot. If you visited this article previously and noted that the link to her Facebook post was not working, that was why.

Some people are calling Matson “Coupon Chad” or “Coupon Cody” as a result of the video, a reference to previous videos of people who were dubbed “BBQ Becky,” “Landscape Lucy,” “Jogger Joe,” and the like.

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2. CVS Apologized to Hudson and Let Matson Go After Investigating What Happened

Hudson said in her Facebook post that three officers arrived at CVS in response to the call. She wrote: “Three tactical unit officers arrived and, after some conversation and documenting their names, badge numbers, etc., I eventually left the store. Needless to say, this is far from over. Life in these United States. Aargh.” She also posted a photo of the CVS coupon that was questioned, which you can see above.

Chicago police said that officers responded to a call for an “assault in progress” at 11:55 p.m. on Friday, Block Club Chicago reported. A police report was not made.

Hudson said the officers told her that the managers, as agents of CVS, had the authority to ask people to leave or those people could be arrested for criminal trespassing. She was willing to comply, but she told Block Club Chicago that she didn’t feel like she was treated equally with the CVS employees, as she had not broken any laws. She told Block Club Chicago: “I’m a citizen of this city as well, and it’s my understanding it’s the job of the police department to serve and protect everyone. I did not feel served, I did not feel protected, and I did not feel they were there in any capacity to represent my interests, and my well-being.”

One person on Facebook commented, “I work for one of this company’s competitors and tho I’m not sticking up for this behavior I will say coupon fraud has become a huge problem to the point that I hate even dealing with them. I think this could have been handled much differently they should have called the company that issued it actually if it was a replacement coupon for a defective product they should have been aware of it before you ever received it. Hope you are able to get justice. You might call the company and have them inform the manager of the store.”

Hudson said that she never yelled or raised her voice or used profanity, she simply asked the managers to call CVS corporate offices to help resolve the issue, Block Club Chicago reported.

CVS later apologized to Hudson and shared the statement with Block Club Chicago. “We sincerely apologize to Ms. Hudson for her experience in one of our stores. Our Region Director in Chicago contacted Ms. Hudson as soon as we were made aware of this incident. CVS has begun an investigation and we will take any corrective action that is warranted to prevent it from happening again. CVS Pharmacy does not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any customer and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and diverse environment in our stores,” the statement continued. “We have firm non-discrimination policies in place to help ensure that all customers are treated with respect and dignity. Profiling or any other type of discriminatory behavior is strictly prohibited.”

On July 16, CVS concluded its investigation and let go Matson and the other CVS manager that Hudson spoke about in her Facebook post.

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3. Matson Is President of the Log Cabin Republicans of Illinois, a Group Representing Gay Conservatives, & Once Collected Signatures That Officials Thought Might Have Been Forged

According to Matson’s Facebook page, he just recently became the the president of Log Cabin Republicans of Illinois, an LGBT political group. The group’s Facebook page features numerous photos of Matson, including one of him wearing a red Trump shirt while standing under a sign that reads “Ronald Reagan Highway.”

On July 5 the page posted: “Congratulations to our illustrious President Trump for his rousing speech in Great Falls, Montana. My brother and his family used to live there. Isn’t it nice to give a speech in a place among people where you can feel totally uninhibited and free from the PC police and need for self censorship? Not in Montana! This son of farmer’s children felt very proud to be an American tonight. Montana’s rural and big city Republican LGBTQ community felt proud too, And trust me, there is one. We’re everywhere .God bless you, Mr. President.” It’s not clear who wrote the message posted on the Facebook page.

In April, Matson wrote that he was disappointed in the Supreme Court’s gay wedding cake ruling. “US Supreme Court Gay Wedding Cake ruling was a disappointment. Bring on the appeal.”

According to Facebook, the Log Cabin page was first created on April 9. The group describes itself this way: “Log Cabin Republicans is the nation’s original and largest organization representing LGBT conservatives and straight allies.” 

Matson has a history of getting involved in political causes. He was also a delegate for President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign, Block Club Chicago reported.

In 2013, Matson created a website seeking to promote Edgewater’s need for a boardwalk along the beach, connecting Edgewater with Rogers Park, DNA Info reported. He collected hundreds of signatures from neighbors and businesses, referring to a boardwalk that was torn down in the 1950s and the city’s need for another one. His proposal was modeled after a boardwalk in Virginia. He hoped to submit thousands of signatures by the end of the year. He estimated the proposal would cost $200 million.

But his proposal eventually became part of a fraud complaint, Block Club Chicago reported. A vote on the boardwalk was yanked from the November 2016 ballot after city officials ruled that five pages of signatures that he had submitted might have been forged. A handwriting expert believed most of the signatures on those five pages might have been in Matson’s handwriting. Matson later admitted he made some of those signatures himself after co-workers and friends asked him to sign on their behalf.

The board wrote about the findings: “The Electoral Board finds clear and convincing evidence that signatures on sheets 9 through 13 were, by his own admission, all signed by Morry Matson. The purported ‘signatures’ on such sheets, with the exception of lines 1 and 2 on sheet 9, are not ‘genuine’ as required by law and that there was a pattern of fraud, false swearing and total disregard of the requirements of the election code. The Electoral Board further finds that the appropriate remedy is the invalidation of every petition sheet tainted by such conduct.”

Matson said he wished he had consulted a legal expert about his petition before he submitted it, since he had been working on the boardwalk idea for 30 years.

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4. Morry Matson Is Running for the 48th Ward Alderman & Part of His Platform Is to Stop Denying African Americans Access to the Lakefront

Edgewater Beachwalk in Chicago, another Facebook page that Matson is involved with, announced on June 15 that Matson was running for 48th Ward Alderman in Chicago. An alderman is an elected member of a municipal council. Chicago’s City Council is made of 560 elected aldermen who represent a district or a ward, and the mayor presides over the aldermen.  The 48th ward was first created in the Edgewater area of Chicago in 1931.

Matson’s campaign page reads: “Are you in the silent majority who want a property tax freeze? Do you want to build the lakefront infrastructure project? Are you in the moral majority who think restricting access to our lakefront just to keep out the African-American community goes against God and the American way? Do you believe it is the Chicago ADA community’s constitutional right to equal, safe and convenient access to our beaches and undeveloped lakefront? Do you want to restore law and order to combat our ward’s rising crime rate? Vote for Matson and Right the Great Wrong in Chicago’s 48th Ward.”

He’s running as an independent.

Here’s a copy of a letter he wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the racism issue that he’s fighting, which he has posted on his campaign website:

Matson, a supporter of President Donald Trump, has some choice words about Hillary Clinton on his campaign website. He describes how her father was the last Independent candidate who had a strong chance of winning an election in the Edgewater neighborhood. Then he writes: “After the  election, Hillary was born that year at Edgewater Hospital. The Rodham family moved to the suburbs in 1949.  Edgewater Hospital was shuttered in 2000 due to Medicare fraud practices. Today its ruins capture Hillary exactly: abandoned & locked up! Creepy Fun Fact: Along with Hillary, serial killer John Wayne Gacy was also born at the old Edgewater Hospital. The 1978 photo of the First Lady personally thanking him for his donation to the Democratic Party can be found on the internet.”

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5. Matson Served in the Navy & Ran an Opera Company & Two Theater Companies

According to Matson’s campaign website, he was born and raised in Billings, Montana. His family is Finnish and German, and his father was raised on a homestead in Wyoming. His mother was raised on a farm in Montana and was the Dial-a-Prayer lady in Billings for many years. Matson describes himself as an Evangelical Lutheran who received a music scholarship and studied music in Vienna. He got a music degree in 1993 and worked as a substitute music teacher in Billings public schools.

He enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in Chicago and Virginia, where he was a member of the Sousa’s Navy Band, his campaign site states. He received an honorable discharge and founded an opera company in Billings in 1997. After that, he moved back to Chicago and managed to theater companies. His Facebook page references Morry as the owner and president of Morry Matson Productions Chicago, and lists another one of his websites as edgewaterbeachwalk.com.

Morry Matson Productions’ website is currently down, but you can see a screenshot of an archived version above. It describes the world premiere of a play that Matson translated, which premiered in 2014. The site also mentions a Kickstarter that Matson started. From a look back at kicktraq, it appears this Kickstarter only reached 10 percent of its goal, with $95 pledged.

His Facebook page also reveals that he’s in a domestic partnership and studied at the University of Montana after graduating from Senior High in Billings, Montana.

This is a developing story.