Another white person has earned themselves a perky, alliterative nickname after calling the police on a Black person for something no one should call the police for. This time, the offender, a Chicago-area CVS manager dubbed by the internet as “Coupon Carl,” rang the cops because a Black woman making a purchase presented a manufacturer’s coupon and refused to back down when he wouldn’t honor it.
According to a Facebook post from the woman, Camilla Hudson, the coupon had been mailed to her by the manufacturer to purchase a replacement item after her previously purchased item had been defective. However, when she went to use it while being helped by Coupon Carl aka Morry Matson, a different CVS manager told her that he’d never seen a coupon like it before, and thought it was fraudulent.
Hudson wrote that she when asked for his name and store title, he “became agitated and rude,” at which point she began recording to document what he told her. She wrote that the manager then walked away from her. When she followed him, he ran to the back of the store to another room and slammed the door on her face. That’s when Hudson said that Matson told her to leave the store or he’d call the cops.
So, she waited.
“Tell them I’ll be here when they arrive. That I will be waiting for them to arrive,” Hudson can be heard telling Matson in the video she recorded of his 911 call.
Hudson wrote that police dispatch had hung up on Matson the first time he called, so he called back a second time and told the dispatcher that Hudson was harassing them. In the video Hudson recorded, Matson can be heard giving his description of her appearance and is seen shaking. Hudson later said in a Facebook post that Matson hadn’t been experiencing tremors when he was originally helping her and that it wasn’t until he was on the phone that he began shaking.
At one point, Matson tells the dispatcher that Hudson is “African American,” which she corrects him on.
“Black. No, I’m not African American, I’m Black,” she says in the video. “Black isn’t a bad word.”
Hudson wrote that three officers arrived and that after talking with them and taking down their information, she left the store. Hudson’s original Facebook post was taken down, so she posted her video again. The video has since received 189,000 views, and her post has been shared more than 1,000 times.
https://www.facebook.com/camillahudson31765/videos/vb.1574824899/10215005357398777/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
https://www.facebook.com/camillahudson31765/posts/10215005361478879
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Matson is running for Chicago’s 48th Ward alderman, and has a campaign goal of “increased police presence.” He was a state delegate for President Donald Trump in 2016 and is the president of the Illinois Log Cabin Republicans, a national LGBTQ Republican organization.
According to Raw Story, Matson was busted in 2016 for forging five pages of signatures in a 13-page petition for a beachfront renovation project. The project would have partly helped “prevent drug deals that take place under the cover of darkness,” DNAinfo wrote at the time.
Matson’s decision to call the cops on a Black person for something no one should bother first responders with follows a recent history of other white people earning tacky nicknames for doing the same. In April, BBQ Becky made a name for herself after crying to cops whom she called on Black park patrons barbecuing with charcoal. After her came Permit Patty, who lied about calling the cops on a child, and Pool Patrol Paula who was arrested and charged for assaulting a Black child while telling him to leave the pool. Another pool patroller, dubbed ID Adam, was fired from his job two weeks ago after requiring a Black woman to show him an ID at a community pool she belonged to, then calling cops when she refused.
Matson’s “Coupon Carl” nickname, too, has stuck and has been used as a hashtag across Twitter.
So #CouponCarl wasn't shaking because of fear. This fool was MAD, BIG MAD that a black woman was not bowing down to his racist ass and completely disrespectful treatment. Don't confuse this shit.
— Blue Ivy’s Sunglasses (@tiffandtaffy) July 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/SchmahlNaomi/status/1018212979505065989
Dear #CouponCarl (aka Morry Matson) a simple phone call to the manufacturers phone number (800# on coupon) instead of a racist call to 911 would have cleared up your lack of knowledge about its validity. Hope you lose your job you fraudulent racist. https://t.co/VCp1cMGH7N
— K L C (@KyberdaleKaren) July 14, 2018
CVS has apologized to Hudson in a statement, and says it has “begun an investigation” and “will take any corrective action that is warranted to prevent it from happening again.”
“We sincerely apologize to Ms. Hudson for her experience in one of our stores,” spokesperson Mike DeAngelis said in a statement. “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. 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.”