Two Miami police officers have filed a lawsuit against Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, claiming the two actors falsely portrayed them in the Netflix crime drama The Rip, a movie allegedly inspired by their story.
The lawsuits were filed by Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, officers with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, who allege that their stories inspired the film’s plot, per Entertainment Weekly.
Although Smith and Santana are not mentioned by name in the film, the lawsuit claims that Damon and Affleck’s characters are so heavily associated with the two officers that their portrayal has caused “substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations” because the movie and its advertisements “imply misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law enforcement operation.”
The officers’ complaint, which has been obtained and reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, accuses Artists Equity and Affleck and Damon’s LLC production company Falco Productions of defamation per se and defamation by implication. The officers have also brought a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the film, Damon and Affleck portray Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D. Byrne, respectively, who both discover $20 million in cartel money that explodes into a web of corruption within the department.
“The complaint claims that the case that served as the inspiration for the film was a real-life incident in which Smith and Santana seized more than $21 million in June 2016,” added EW. “As a result, the plaintiffs allege that ‘the film’s use of unique, non-generic details of the June 29, 2016, investigation, combined with its Miami-Dade setting and portrayal of a narcotics team, creates a reasonable inference that the officers depicted are Plaintiffs.’”
One moment in the film that Smith and Santana’s lawsuit criticized was a scene in which Affleck’s character kills a DEA agent. They also noted that several scenes show their characters bending the rules of police procedure to get a desired outcome.
Though the film begins with a disclaimer, Smith and Santana demand “a public retraction and correction,” along with “the addition of a prominent disclaimer.” They also seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees.
Since the film’s release, both Smith and Santana allege that family members and colleagues have said they “must have used seized funds to complete personal property improvements, purchase vehicles and vessels, and afford private schooling for their children” based on events depicted in the movie. The plaintiffs argue that the portrayals have led viewers to associate them with the movie.
Attorneys for the defendants allegedly responded to the complaint in January 2026 upon the film’s release, dismissing the concerns as “unfounded because the film did not expressly name Sergeant Smith and there was no implication that the Plaintiffs engaged in any misconduct in the film.”
Read the full article here