Not everyone was a fan of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s latest movie, “The Rip.”
In the Netflix action thriller, the two actors play police officers who uncover corruption within the Miami-Dade Police Department after discovering $20 million of cartel cash. Now, two actual police officers are suing for defamation.
Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, officers in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, are suing the film’s production company, Artists Equity, and the LLC, Falco Productions, over the depiction of the law enforcement characters, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Smith and Santana are not mentioned by name in the film, but the lawsuit claims that the lead characters are so clearly associated with the two officers that the movie has caused “substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations,” as they claim “The Rip” implies “misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law enforcement operation.”
The lawsuit accuses the two companies of defamation per se and defamation by implication, and the officers have also brought a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Netflix is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The complaint claims that the film was inspired by a real case involving Smith and Santana from June 2016, when they seized more than $21 million, according to WSVN. The plaintiffs allege that the film used the “unique, non-generic details of the June 29, 2016, investigation.”
The film opens with text reading, “Inspired by true events,” although the lawsuit claims that aside from “the fact that a large seizure occurred, the events portrayed in the film did not happen.”
Smith and Santana’s lawyers have demanded “a public retraction and correction” and “the addition of a prominent disclaimer” to the movie, and the officers are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.
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