Matt Damon, Ben Affleck sued by Miami police for depicting them as ‘dirty’ in The Rip

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/matt-damon-ben-affleck-miami-lawsuit-netflix-the-rip-b2973726.html

722 points · 128 comments · view on lemmy.world

128 Comments

nymnympseudonym@piefed.social · 236 pts · 121d (20 replies)

Cops never heard of Barbara Streisand?

SippyCup@lemmy.world · 68 pts · 121d (14 replies)

I have completely forgotten about what exactly Streisand was trying to hide. I'm not sure I've ever seen the actual media she was embarrassed about.

CorneliusTalmadge@lemmy.world · 108 pts · 121d (11 replies)

She was trying to have a picture of her house removed from a website. Link to wiki that contains the picture.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 47 pts · 121d (5 replies)

I find it hilarious that I know what her house looks like but don't know a single one of her songs. Given that she wanted to hide the former and as an artist, probably wanted everyone to be exposed to the latter.

nymnympseudonym@piefed.social · 5 pts · 121d (1 reply)

I grew up listening to her music because my parents liked it.

Now I also know that on a personal level she's probably a whiny little bitch

Tja@programming.dev · 3 pts · 120d

A diva, even.

stoly@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 121d (2 replies)

This may be generational. There is not likely to be much intersection between the group of people who listened to Streisand and those who listen to Swift.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 120d (1 reply)

To be fair I don't listen to Swift either, but yes, I'm closer to her fans in age probably.

stoly@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 119d

I'm somewhere in the middle. I am aware of both but really payed no attention to either.

Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz · 11 pts · 121d (1 reply)

If the picture were cropped to be just her house, it's not even a particularly high resolution.

otacon239@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 121d

Keep in mind this was 2003 when it was absolutely not the norm to be able to see the aerial view of any given celebrity’s house, which also tells a lot about layout and entry points.

frunch@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 121d

Anytime i see a link to that article, i like to click over and take another look at that house. I like to think of it as doing my part keeping the Streisand effect strong.

qaz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 121d

Two years later, Masnick coined the name when writing about Marco Beach Ocean Resort's takedown notice to urinal.net (a site dedicated to photographs of urinals) over its use of the resort's name.

I guess that exists

Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 120d

It's interesting to read that, now that we have more of a bird's eye view of the whole situation. Streisand claims she never even wanted the image taken down, she just wanted her name removed from the image.

It's pretty funny in retrospect, if removing her name was her goal, she probably could have made it happen if instead of filing a lawsuit, she just called the webmaster for that site and asked nicely.

dwemthy@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 121d

This is the real Streisand effect

QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 119d

Pictures of her toilet

crandlecan@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 121d

I think she got deported by ICE, no?

SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social · 3 pts · 121d (2 replies)

Was a great song, easy to sing along too.

nymnympseudonym@piefed.social · 2 pts · 121d

And play loud with the windows down

spamfajitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 121d

My tinfoil hat theory is that song was created to try to push down page rankings when searching for the source of the Streisand effect. Much like Boris Johnson and his model bus painting.

Malyca@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 121d

Cops want settlement

CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 192 pts · 121d (5 replies)

Gee, sure sounds a lot like what they did to Afroman. This must be a new tactic spreading amongst the police union to crush public criticism since just not committing crimes as police officers seems to be too lofty of a goal.

rafoix@lemmy.zip · 105 pts · 121d (3 replies)

It’s the current right wing bitch move where they sue anyone that is critical of them. Most judges will throw it out but there’s a chance that they will get a MAGA judge that will bend over backwards with flimsy excuses for the right wingers.

ChicoSuave@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 121d (2 replies)

They call it "lawfare"

frunch@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 121d

Let me guess: they're also calling lawyers "lawfighters" 🫠

rafoix@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 121d

It’s just intimidation. Those idiots have little to no understanding of the English language for purposes other than parroting what their masters tell them to parrot.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 121d

Came here to sing about the lemon pound cake defense.

Akh@lemmy.world · 139 pts · 121d (1 reply)

I mean, discovery should be fun. “I need all body cam footage from all cops.”

NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 121d

All reports of misdeeds even if the department ignored them and/or cleared the officers.

AccoSpoot1@lemmy.world · 93 pts · 121d (2 replies)

I wish them a very Afroman.

Tja@programming.dev · 9 pts · 120d (1 reply)

And some mama's lemon pound cake.

Saprophyte@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 120d

It tastes so niiiiiice...

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 75 pts · 121d (11 replies)

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are being sued through their production company, Artists Equity, over their latest Netflix crime thriller, The Rip, which Miami police allege falsely depicts them as “dirty.”

You know how shit most movies are now? If the MPD wins, movies will get even worse. Just bland, milktoast, safe bullshit, because they won't be able to get insurance for anything even mildly edgy.

But, last time I checked the First Amendment was still in effect, and people are free to criticize and parody authority figures. So, I don't think this will go anywhere.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 35 pts · 121d (9 replies)

Milquetoast?

4grams@awful.systems · 27 pts · 121d (5 replies)

It’s an excellent word, means a timid, meek, or unassertive person. I love it since it sounds like exactly what it is “”milktoast” sounds boring, unappealing, and bland, just like milquetoast people.. it’s an effective synonym regardless if intended or not :)

blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 121d (2 replies)

They know. They were correcting a misspelling.

4grams@awful.systems · 12 pts · 121d (1 reply)

I know, but it’s not really a misspelling though, Milquetoast was named after milktoast.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 7 pts · 121d

This thread evolved into something deliciously delightful! Thank you! ❤️

Maeve@kbin.earth · 8 pts · 121d (1 reply)
4grams@awful.systems · 3 pts · 121d

My first intro to it was Milquetoast the Cockroach from Bloom County. It all makes perfect sense :)

funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 121d (2 replies)

just put milksteak, she'll know what is.

Captain_Buddha@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 121d

I like mine with a side of jellybeans, raw.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 121d

Thanks for the giggle 🤭

chocrates@piefed.world · 6 pts · 121d

American media already has a quite cozy relationship with police and the military. I am surprised the police even want to rock the boat. All of their bullshit forensics is made to seem real before anyone even gets on a jury

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 72 pts · 121d (4 replies)

Discovery is gonna be hilarious.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 29 pts · 121d (3 replies)

If some random Redditors are to be believed the film actually paints the police in a semi positive light. There are a few bad cops but supposedly at the end most of the cops are shown to be acting with integrity.

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 121d (1 reply)

Okay.

But the thing about defamation lawsuits is that the plaintiff (Miami PD) has to show and demonstrate that it’s in fact defamation. Mostly that comes down to lying about it and causing reputational harm.

The defendants (or rather a team if interns owned by their lawyers,) gets to go into the the plaintiffs records to discredit those claims.

In other words, the lawyers will get an all-access pass to Miami PD’s normally confidential files detailing extensive corruption. Because let’s be honest, there’s corruption there.

They’ll drop it before it gets to discovery.

M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 15 pts · 121d

Or they will just not comply with discovery, and also demand the case be sealed. As is tradition lately.

Bloomcole@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 121d

Exactly, that's what made it so unbelievable and unrealistic.

Microtonal_Banana@lemmy.zip · 57 pts · 121d (1 reply)
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 120d

tbf they are producers of the film as well

toiletobserver@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 121d (3 replies)

I hope they donate their countersuit money to an anti police corruption charity.

Eldritch@piefed.world · 10 pts · 121d (2 replies)

Local antifa it is.

bizarroland@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 121d (1 reply)

Looks like the Miami Antifa headquarters is getting a new balcony!

rapchee@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 121d

bigger buttplug room perhaps?

SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social · 34 pts · 121d (3 replies)

These cops are either idiots or they are trying to reveal a lot of dirt on their colleagues. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 121d (2 replies)

or they are trying to reveal a lot of dirt on their colleagues. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

That would be kinda brilliant, but id be shocked if they were trying to pull that off.

bizarroland@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 121d (1 reply)

My guess is they're actually the scumbagiest of scumbag cops, but also stupid and offended and they're telling on themselves.

Every accusation is a confession.

NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 121d

Should start a betting pool, we're the people who asked for this case to happen themselves corrupt.

Edit: even more hilarious if the news picked up on it

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 120d (2 replies)

The idea that the police must be held above suspicion and assumed heroic is one of the worst things that can happen to good law enforcement. Good law enforcement requires the public to always be scrutinizing the cops.

iocase@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 120d (1 reply)

All my homies hate copaganda

TokenBoomer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d

Preach 🙏🏻

LodeMike@lemmy.today · 32 pts · 121d

Yep yep, totally innocent person behavior

KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca · 32 pts · 121d (2 replies)

But for some reason they didn't mind the TV show Dexter?

Their lab geek was a proficient serial killer.

Debra was a murderer and covered up crimes. Often violated constitutional rights including shoving a gun in a kids face.

Doakes was a murderer. Often violated constitutional rights.

Quinn was dirty, stole crime scene money, took bribes, tampered with evidence, and covered up murdering someone. Often violated constitutional rights.

LaGuerta was dirty and violated constitutional rights.

Batista knew of cop crimes and often looked the other way. Beat a man because of his words and put him in hospital. Several times violated constitutional rights.

Harry Morgan fucked his CI's and taught his son to murder and avoid the law.

Matthews fucked prostitutes, violated constitutional rights, and was generally dirty.

Seems like the only character that wasn't a criminal was Masuka. His only crime was he liked to fuck.

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 121d

Masuka almost certainly has committed some sort of sex crime. There's no way he's clean whether that was shown in the series or not. Dude has sex pest written all over him. No way he wasn't stalking or touching women without consent. Even if only as a joke, I could see him desecrating some victim's corpse. Dude had no chill and no filter or inhibitions

badgermurphy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 121d
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Etterra@discuss.online · 29 pts · 121d

Cry harder Miami Pork Pies. There's lots of sand down there so go outside and beat it up.

TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 28 pts · 121d

Hey! We're a corrupt police force, and by showing that by having actors act like that created unnecessary attention and annoying questions we don't want to deal, with.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 121d (3 replies)

Reminds me of Brett Farve suing Pat McCafee for mentioning his Mississippi swindle

orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 121d (2 replies)

Man, I forgot about that fucking shitbag move. I never did look to see what came of it.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 3 pts · 121d (1 reply)

He won.

orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 121d

Of course he did.

AverageEarthling@feddit.online · 28 pts · 120d

have the cops tried not being dirty?

lechekaflan@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 121d (3 replies)

Florida cops... Hunting Good Will.

melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 120d

Good one!

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d (1 reply)

Noce!

YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 120d

U missed an "n". Cause these fuckers are absolutely pædos.

Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 121d

It should be noted that they're not being sued as actors, but rather for their owning of the production company.

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 121d (9 replies)

Defamation requires 4 things:

  1. An objectively false statement, portrayed as fact, not opinion.
  2. Publication to a third party.
  3. Negligence on the publisher, i.e. failure to attempt to confirm the truth of the matter.
  4. Actual harm to the victim's reputation and business.

So number 2 is clearly covered as they produced and released a film about it. Number 4 would arguably be covered by the defamation per se doctrine which says that accusation of a crime is de fact harmful to one's reputation.

The problem with the suit is that the film makes so claims of fact. It is disclaimed as a dramatization. A fictional story only based on actual events. Essentially it's historical fiction but with contemporary events as the basis of the history. The characters portrayed are neither named as our based on real cops.

Those things don't necessarily protect them in and of itself, though. It really comes down to whether a reasonable person watching the film would come away thinking the events were fictional or a claim of facts. But I think the general audience is aware how accurate "based on a true story" films tend to be. No one reasonable is expecting the film to be a documentary.

chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 121d (7 replies)

And with public figures there's also the actual malice requirement, which requires the defendant to have evidence they were telling a lie and, or have shown so little interest in checking the facts that the only reasonable explanation is they were actively avoiding the truth.

Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 121d

This sounds like a description of Faux News.

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 121d (4 replies)

That's true. But I'm not sure your average cop in Miami counts as a public figure for the purposes of defamation.

wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 121d (3 replies)

But the "Miami police department" does, and these character saren't named as specific individuals. Only the police department. The police department is certainly, itself, a "public figure", which the defendants could easily demonstrate using the public figure's social media posts and press releases. Is there case law saying that a group such as a corporation cannot constitute a "public figure"?

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 121d

That's fair. A case could be made as such for sure. I'm not aware of any case law for our against that assertion.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d (1 reply)

And this is especially the case for such an iconic police department. The Miami PD is up there with the NYPD, the Chicago PD, and the LAPD as default "we want to do a police story" departments. There are other major cities where maybe you could claim they aren't as public of figures, the Cleveland PD or Portland PD would leave the audience asking why them unless there's something to it, and even more so for smaller cities like Eugene, OR or Akron, OH. But "I want to do a story about crooked cops" leaves Miami as one of the cliche settings.

wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 120d

I mean, yeah, one of the more famous police procedurals is literally "Miami vice".

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 121d
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Sharkticon@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 121d
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Alpha71@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 121d (1 reply)

There is a YouTuber called Alicia x life. She used to do sports commentary on professional video gamers.

She is literally been all over the world, and said that Miami Florida was the only city where she was constantly harassed because of her skin color.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d

Oh she's awful, Alicia x Death is far superior /s

betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 121d

Soon: Miami police sued by Miami police for depicting them as 'thin-skinned crybabies' in reality.

zaph@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 121d (2 replies)

Had zero interest in this film before this happened

bizarroland@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 121d (1 reply)

I still have no interest in it afterwards, but I do hope the court case is interesting.

gdog05@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 121d

I wasn't very interested either but I ended up enjoying it. They did the suspense pretty well and it was a solid enough story. The part I disliked was watching the shitty cop attitude and behaviors at all. But an undertone was that you can't tell normal police behavior from the criminal police behavior they're highlighting.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 120d (8 replies)

This is even funnier as someone who watched the entire film because >!they weren't actually corrupt, they were just trying to find the person on their team who was!<

Duamerthrax@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 120d (3 replies)

It would be more realistic if a group of bad cops tried finding the one good cop leaking their crimes.

edit: Look up what happened to LAPD Officer Houston Tipping if you want to know what happens to good cops.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 120d

So true, so true. Wasn't that the plot for L.A. Confidential?

Rooster326@programming.dev · 2 pts · 120d (1 reply)

Isn't that the plot of Training Day?

Duamerthrax@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 120d

idk, I've never seen it.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 120d (1 reply)

Honesty this film is fairly flattering

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d

My thoughts exactly. Almost a complete reversal of "One Battle After Another"; I'm convinced the director for that one just wanted to make everyone look as evil/incompetent/misguided as possible in some kind of botched 'both sides bad' argument

bagsy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 120d

Thats the most unrealistic part of the entire plot. Cops would NEVER rat on each other, thats exactly what the thin blue line is. "Thin blue line" might as well be "cops before citizens".

Freeposity@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 120d

A hit dog hollers.

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 121d

ACAB

M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 17 pts · 121d (7 replies)

america is not a real nation is it?

Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 121d (5 replies)

It's 50 failed states disguised as one functional one, glued together by the false hope of 'the American way'

Tja@programming.dev · 8 pts · 120d (3 replies)

And a trillion dollar military

M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 120d (2 replies)

And a trillion dollar ineffective military

Tja@programming.dev · 5 pts · 120d (1 reply)

What do you mean? They obliterated 700% of Iran's army and navy...

M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 120d

And blockaded the blockade... with ships that have been at sea too long without resupply... that can't get it from one of many us bases in the area due to them all being evacuated... that are evacuated due to Iranian strikes that took out things like an AWACs plane due to a lack of interceptors... those interceptors are about $3 million a pop being used to shoot down shahed drones that cost under $50k... those very costly patriot interceptors have to be used due to the us administrations snubbing of the only nation that has "the cards" when it comes to full on modern drone warfare's offer of support...

There is a hole in your military, dear Lisa, dear Lisa.

blitzen@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 120d

As a Californian, I take issue with that.

America is 40 or so failed states bringing the 10 others down with them.

Mulligrubs@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 120d

America is a warning to every other nation... remember, the only thing keeping corps in check is government. USA demonstrates what you get when you refuse to restrain multinational multi-generational wealth acquirers, they win over the people every time.

They'll make us slaves if they can, that is always their ultimate goal, because it's the most profitable labor force. Much cheaper than robots.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 120d

Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 121d

Sounds like they can just use the fox news defense. No reasonable person would take the movie litterally as fact.

Maeve@kbin.earth · 14 pts · 121d (2 replies)

I hope they hire Afroman's lawyer (and a PI to get the goods).

anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 121d (1 reply)

And then go get high

Maeve@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 121d

Putting those mofos on public exposure by winning would be a pretty good high, in itself; but I get you.

FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 121d

Sounds like a big, blue club of whiny little bitches.

ryathal@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 121d

I'll tell you how to find a dirty cop. Pick up the phone and call the police station, don't really matter who answers.

mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 120d

Oh cool, I didn't know about this movie. thanks, lawsuit! I generally enjoy Matt Damon and Ben Affleck together

1984@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 121d

Haha classic America.

lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 120d

If you didn't do dirty shit then the movie would have been unbelievable. Maybe consider that morons.

Fedizen@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 120d

Miami police doth protest too much

godsammitdam@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 121d

Afroman all over again. Snowflake white conservatives are mad they got called out.

Mulligrubs@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 120d

We know you're dirty, because most of us have had to deal with you and we know you are just as likely to ruin us as to help us.

There are good cops, I've met a few and I love them. However, the low bar for entry and their authority leads to a lot of ruthless thugs wearing the badge.

They had a much better reputation before they were forced to wear cameras (sometimes). It's odd, almost every time I've investigated a case (i.e. read up on something that happened years ago, long after the case is over), the cops are dead-ass lying about what happened, and only the footage reveals the truth.

I am staunchly pro-union, but US police demonstrate what happens when unions are at their worst. No accountability. If only the rest of us had unions that fought half as hard for us...

good luck on discovery

kingofras@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 121d

TIL you can crop POLICE to look like OLIG[archy]

No

Kids, kids

Put those felt markers away

dizzle18@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 121d

Whoops, this one hit a little too close to home, didn't it?

uhmbah@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 121d

That's a lot of snowflake for such a warm city...

Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 121d

1312

dan1101@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 121d
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kreskin@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 107d

Hilarious. They will lose that lawsuit too because they are in fact dirty.

SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 121d

It will all depend on the judge. A MAGA judge will throw the First Amendment down the shitter for Dear Leader.