Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Sued For The Rip

2 weeks ago 27

Ben Affleck's Byrne pushing Scott Adkins' Del into a desk for a fight in The Rip

Published May 10, 2026, 5:27 PM EDT

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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are in trouble with the police.

Affleck and Damon's Netflix crime thriller, The Rip, received overall great reviews after its release. However, the actors who also produced the film offended the authorities despite the movie's success. Two Miami-Dade officers filed a lawsuit claiming The Rip damaged their reputations through its portrayal of law enforcement.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana filed a lawsuit against Damon and Affleck's studio, Artists Equity, and the LLC company Falco Productions. The officers claimed that the characters in The Rip resembled them, which affected their credibility. While they are never identified by name in the film, the complaint argues audiences have connected the fictional characters to them, leading to alleged fallout.

The publication reports that court documents accused Damon and Affleck of defamation per se, defamation by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Smith and Santana say that certain scenes in The Rip implied that both they and the sheriff's office were unethical, tarnishing their image.

The complaint says that several scenes in The Rip showed police officers violating protocol, including a sequence where Affleck’s character kills a DEA agent. They argue that even though the film claimed that it was inspired by real events, the story strays too far away from the actual situation and over exaggerates more than a few things.

Smith and Santana’s attorneys claim the film has not only negatively affected their clients but also their colleagues, friends, and relatives. They allege that people were questioning how they afforded property upgrades, vehicles, boats, and private schools after the Netflix film's release. The lawsuit explains that those assumptions stem directly from The Rip's corrupt officers.

The documents also state that the lawyers representing Smith and Santana contacted Damon and Affleck in December 2025 before the movie’s release, asking them to delay the movie because they considered the film's content to be defamatory. According to the lawsuit, the actors and producers responded after The Rip debuted in January 2026, saying that their complaints weren't valid because the project did not directly accuse them of any wrongdoing.

Affleck, Damon, and Artists Equity have not responded publicly to the lawsuit at the time of this article's publication. Netflix has reportedly declined to comment after the publication reached out.

The Rip is currently available to stream on Netflix.