Police Officers Sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon over Netflix's "The Rip"

Two law enforcement officers in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, have filed a lawsuit against Ben Affleck and Matt Damon‘s production company Artists Equity over “The Rip,” the Netflix crime drama directed by Joe Carnahan that launched on the streamer in January.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly: “Smith and Santana allege the characters played by Affleck and Damon in the movie have caused them ‘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 Rip” stars Damon and Affleck as lieutenant Dane Dumars and detective sergeant J.D. Byrne, respectively, two law enforcement officers in the Miami-Dade Police Department who discover corruption in their ranks linked to $20 million of cartel cash.

The cast also featured Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, and Kyle Chandler.

Smith and Santana’s lawsuit claims a real-life case from June 2016 in which they seized more than $21 million was inspiration for the movie, which opens with the text that it was “inspired by true events.” Smith and Santana are not named in the movie.

The lawsuit says “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.”

In the movie, Affleck and Damon’s law enforcement characters bend the rules such as in one scene where Affleck’s character kills a DEA agent.

Per EW: “The plaintiffs’ attorneys allege that the defendants responded to their inquiry after the film was released in January 2026 by saying that the ‘concerns are 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.'”

Lawyers for Smith and Santana are asking for “a public retraction and correction,” including “the addition of a prominent disclaimer” to the movie.

The two officers are seeking “compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees,” per Entertainment Weekly.