Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Hit With Police Officers’ Lawsuit Over Netflix’s The Rip: Report
The Rip is spilling into real life: months after its Netflix debut, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been hit with lawsuits from Miami-Dade officers over the film’s portrayal of law enforcement, according to a new report.
Well, this one took an odd turn. What looked like just another glossy crime movie from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck has apparently landed both of them—and their production company—in real-world legal hot water. We're talking The Rip, that Netflix thriller about dirty money and police corruption in Miami-Dade. Except now, it’s not just fiction: actual Miami cops are coming after the filmmakers for defamation.
The Lawsuit Nobody Saw Coming
Here’s the gist: Two Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office officers, Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, have filed suit against Affleck and Damon’s production outfit, Artists Equity (plus their partner company, Falco Productions). The gist of the complaint? The officers say the movie—and all those promos plastered across the platform—paint them as corrupt, reckless, and generally not the kind of people you’d want carrying a badge.
Allegedly, key elements in The Rip’s plot mirror an actual 2016 law enforcement operation where Smith and Santana seized more than $21 million. That's a little too close for comfort if you happen to be the real cops involved.
What the Movie Shows, and Why the Cops Are Mad
- In the film, Damon plays Lt. Dane Dumars; Affleck is Detective Sgt. J.D. Byrne. Their characters uncover $20 million in cartel money hidden inside the Miami-Dade Police Department, with plenty of procedural lines crossed.
- According to the legal filing, the on-screen Miami-Dade narcotics team is a near-copy of Smith and Santana’s actual assignments, down to specifics on location and team structure.
- There are scenes in the film showing cop characters violating proper protocols (one moment even involves a DEA agent’s death) – stuff Smith and Santana say never happened.
The complaint lays it out: 'Aside from the fact that a large seizure occurred, the events portrayed in the film did not happen.' The officers argue the film (and its heavy Miami-Dade branding) effectively blurred the line between real and fake, leading viewers—and even colleagues and family—to believe Smith and Santana actually did the bad stuff depicted on screen.
The Alleged Fallout (and Demands)
The fallout? According to attorneys, people started assuming these cops used seized cartel cash to buy nice things and send their kids to private school—just like the dirty movie-cops do. Not exactly a great look for their reputations.
The lawsuit isn’t your run-of-the-mill grumbling either. Smith and Santana are going after Artists Equity and Falco Productions for:
- Defamation per se
- Defamation by implication
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress
And they're not just looking for cash (though yes, they're demanding compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees), but also want the filmmakers to publicly retract and correct the record. Specifically, they’re asking for a prominent disclaimer to be added to the movie—so ideally, no one else watches The Rip and thinks the Miami-Dade narcotics squad is living large off cartel millions.
Who Actually Commented?
So far, Affleck, Damon, and Artists Equity haven’t said a word in public about the suit. Netflix is staying out of it entirely (since they’re not directly named in the filing).
In the end, here’s a case where true crime inspiration might have backfired. If you ever wondered how thin that line is between ‘based on true events’ and ‘you just got us sued,’ The Rip is now Exhibit A.