Florida officers sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon over ‘The Rip’

MIAMI (AP) — Two South Florida police officers have claimed Ben Affleck and He died Damon’s last Action movie “The Rip” used too many real-life details in its fictional narrative, causing damage to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to the defamation lawsuit.

Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants with the Miami-Dade Police Bureau, filed a lawsuit in Miami federal court earlier this month against Artists Equity, a film production company owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings do not say how much the officers are suing, but the civil complaint says they are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, as well as retraction and public correction.

“The Rip” stars Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a home. Portions of the film are inspired by a real-life case that occurred in 2016, in which police found more than $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker in a home in Miami Lakes.

An artist rights attorney declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press on Monday. But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ request letter, artists’ rights attorney Leta Walker wrote that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or depict real people, which is stated in a disclaimer in the film’s credits.

Although Smith and Santana are not named in the film, the lawsuit claims that Santana served as the lead investigator assigned to the real case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team. The lawsuit said that the film’s inclusion of real details about the case gives the impression that the characters are based on the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit alleges that this gave friends, family members and colleagues the impression that plaintiffs committed the criminal acts shown in the film, which include (SPOILER ALERT) conspiring to steal seized drug money, killing a supervising officer, communicating with cartel members, committing arson in a residential neighborhood, endangering the lives of civilians, repeatedly violating basic law enforcement protocols and executing a federal agent in lieu of arrest.

Walker wrote in March that prosecutors haven’t even identified which specific character is supposedly based on Smith or Santana, so even if The Rip was about a real drug team, there’s no way to connect any of the characters to prosecutors.

The Rip, directed by Joe Carnahan, premiered in January on Netflix. It is currently rated 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.