Ben Affleck again Matt DamonArtists Equity is suing two Miami law enforcement officials who promoted its film. Rip.
According to the report of Entertainment Weeklypublished on Saturday, May 9, Jason Smith again Jonathan Santanatwo police officers from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, sued a production company regarding their footage of the Netflix film, produced by Artists Equity and released on January 16.
As the newspaper noted, Smith and Santana are not mentioned or referred to by name in the film, however the lawsuit claims that the performances of Affleck, 53, and Damon, 55, were “so closely related to these two officers” that the film caused “significant damage to their personal and professional reputations.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Artist Equity and representatives for Affleck and Damon for comment.
The newspaper said the lawsuit, which reportedly seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees, is a result of the film and its advertisements suggesting “improper conduct, poor judgment, and inappropriate behavior in relation to the actual work of law enforcement.”
The lawsuit reportedly accuses “Damon's LLC production company Falco Productions of defamation of the incident and defamation of what it says.” There is also a claim that police have described as “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Damon and Affleck star as Lieutenant Dane Dumars and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne, respectively, Rip. This follows their journey after receiving $20 million in cartel money and subsequently discovering corruption in the Miami-Dade Police Department. As widely reported on the film's release, the plot is based on the true story of a Miami police officer Chris Casiano who served as the head of the department's Tactical Narcotic Team in 2016 when the stolen money was recovered.
According to the outlet's report, Smith and Santana's lawsuit states that the two “embezzled more than $21 million in June 2016,” as part of the event. The two are reported to suspect that “the film's use of unique, unusual details of the June 29, 2016 investigation, combined with its setting in Miami-Dade and the portrayal of a drug gang, creates a plausible impression that the officers portrayed by the plaintiffs.”
The lawsuit also states that Smith and Santana's attorneys sent a letter to the companies responsible for the film “listing the details of the allegedly defamatory film and demanding that they cease and desist from releasing it by December 2025.”
According to the lawsuit, a representative of the companies “after the release of the film,” and alleged that the concern “is unfounded because the film did not clearly mention Sergeant Smith and there was no indication that the Plaintiffs were involved in any inappropriate behavior in the film.”
