Two Miami-Dade detectives filed a defamation lawsuit against the actors and their production company over "The Rip," a Netflix thriller based on a 2016 drug raid.
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Two Miami-Dade police detectives have sued Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, along with their production company Artist Equity, alleging defamation over their depiction in the Netflix thriller "The Rip," which premiered in January.
Detectives Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith filed the lawsuit on May 5 in federal court in Florida. The officers claim the film portrays them as corrupt police officers, causing substantial damage to their personal and professional reputations.
"The Rip," directed by Joe Carnahan and also starring Steven Yeun and Kyle Chandler, is based on a real 2016 drug raid in Miami Lakes, Florida. During that operation, investigators discovered between 22 and 24 million dollars hidden behind a false wall—one of the largest cash seizures in local police history. Although Santana and Smith are not named in the film, the lawsuit contends that the characters played by Damon and Affleck are so strongly associated with the two officers that their portrayal has caused harm.
According to the lawsuit, the film and its marketing materials "suggest misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in relation to a true law enforcement operation." Santana's attorney, Ignacio Alvarez, told outlets that the film portrayed police officers as corrupt. "They portrayed my clients as dirty. Now their reputations are hurt," Alvarez said. "My clients are now hurt for the rest of their lives with everybody perceiving that they're dirty."
The lawsuit is directed at the production company and the actors themselves. Page Six reached out to Affleck and Damon for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Neither actor has publicly addressed the legal action.
The film has drawn criticism beyond the lawsuit. In January, Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo criticized the movie for falsely portraying the city as unsafe. "This movie is a slap in the face to our law enforcement personnel," Calvo said, according to 7 News Miami. The film was shot primarily in Hialeah, Florida.
The case centers on how the real 2016 operation has been dramatized for the screen. The actual raid uncovered evidence of a significant drug trafficking operation and the massive cash seizure that became one of the most notable cases in Miami law enforcement history. The film's narrative depicts a narcotics unit fracturing internally after discovering the cartel's hidden cache, with agents questioning whom they can trust.
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