Miami police have filed a lawsuit against Matt Damon and Ben Affleck concerning their Netflix film “The Rip.”
The crime drama, which debuted in January, features Damon and Affleck as members of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s drug task force. The story is based on the real-life 2016 Miami Lakes drug bust—a significant incident that resulted in over $24 million being seized in cash, marking the largest cash confiscation in Miami-Dade’s history.
Several officers involved in the raid are suing the actors through their production company Artist Equity. According to reports, these officers argue that the film damages their reputations by negatively portraying them in relation to the raid.
Deputy Jonathan Santana from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office expressed frustration over the release of the film, stating, “When you steal something, you steal something. We never stole a dollar.” He noted that since the film came out, he’s faced ridicule and accusations of theft, with sarcastic questions about how much he stole.
The attorney for the plaintiffs, Ignacio Alvarez, stated that the film unfairly depicts police officers as corrupt, saying, “They painted police officers as dirty people, they painted my client as dirty people, and now their reputations are tarnished.” He emphasized that this portrayal affects his client’s life moving forward.
Attempts by media outlets to reach Affleck and Damon for their take on the lawsuit have gone unanswered so far.
This isn’t the first controversy surrounding “The Rip,” which also features Steven Yeun and Kyle Chandler. Earlier criticisms came from Hialeah’s Mayor Brian Calvo, who slammed the film for inaccurately depicting the city as dangerous. He remarked that the film serves as a disservice to law enforcement, suggesting it might deter potential visitors to Hialeah.
Calvo added that the events shown in “The Rip” were based on the actual incident in Miami Lakes.
