<p><!-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>
<p> <br />
</p>
<div style="position:relative" data-narration-container="true">
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Two South Florida-based police officers are suing for defamation following the release of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s action thriller “The Rip.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Miami-Dade area sergeants Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana filed a lawsuit against the film’s production company, Artists Equity, earlier this month in Miami federal court, </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/rip-lawsuit-ben-affleck-matt-damon-98647a282521fe01ce73d8a7afeb4400" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">per</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> the Associated Press. Smith and Santana are seeking an undisclosed amount of compensatory damages, along with punitive damages and attorney fees. They are also asking for a retraction and added disclaimers in the film.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“The Rip” was inspired by the true story of two police officers who discovered millions of dollars inside a house. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the huge seizure, making them question who to rely on,” the IMDb description says.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">It was released on Netflix in January and currently has a 78% critic rating and 65% audience score on </span><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_rip" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">Rotten Tomatoes</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The lawsuit states that people now believe Smith, the real-life supervisor of the investigative team, and Santana, the lead detective on the case, actually committed the criminal acts portrayed in the film, even with the film’s disclaimers stating that it’s not a true story.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Third parties have asked Plaintiffs which characters in the Film they were and how many buckets they kept,” the lawsuit states. “Family members, colleagues and peers in other entities unknown to the Plaintiffs but aware of the 2016 case, also remarked that Plaintiffs must have used seized funds to build personal property improvements, purchase vehicles and vessels, and afford private schooling for their children.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The lawsuit further states that Smith and Santana have “repeatedly been questioned by third parties regarding the characters and events depicted.” They claim to have been contacted by a Miami-Dade County State Attorney inquiring about the allegations and threatening an investigation. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“The Film and its promotional content imply misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law-enforcement operation,” the lawsuit </span><a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-officers-suing-over-matt-damon-and-ben-affleck-movie-the-rip/3807644/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">says</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">. “As a result, Plaintiffs have suffered damage to their reputations, diminished standing among peers and colleagues, and injury to their credibility in law-enforcement and professional circles.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">An attorney for Artists Equity said in March that the film already has a disclaimer saying it doesn’t depict real events or people, the outlet noted. The disclaimer text says, “This program is inspired by real events; however, the characters and events depicted have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes, and any similarity to actual persons is purely coincidental and unintentional.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Affleck and Damon already stated that the narrative was inspired by the real 2016 incident in Miami and hired Miami-Dade Police Capt. Chris Casiano as a technical advisor on the film.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like,” Damon told AP during an interview in January. “I mean, these units are very tight because they’re really putting their lives in each other’s hands, and they’re doing something that’s very dangerous.”</span></p>
</div>
<p><br />
<br /><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/police-officers-slap-matt-damon-and-ben-affleck-with-defamation-lawsuit">Source link </a></p>
<p><!-- END THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>

Police Officers Slap Matt Damon And Ben Affleck With Defamation Lawsuit
