INFLUENCER Miranda Derrick has blasted the docu-series Dancing for the Devil, saying it has created more challenges for her and her estranged family.
Miranda gained popularity with her sister, Melanie Wilking, through their shared Wilking Sisters social media account before Miranda joined a group called 7M, which has been blasted as a cult.
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Miranda took to social media to address the controversial Netflix docuseries, her religious beliefs, and her relationship with her family.
“I love my Mom, Dad and Melanie and they will forever be a part of my life,” Miranda wrote on her Instagram Stories.
“The truth is, we just don’t see eye to eye at this time. I believe that this documentary is a one-sided story,” she said, referencing Netflix’s Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.
“I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 2020 and asked my family for some space in the very beginning to collect my thoughts and process my new walk I wanted to take with God.
“My parents and sister are not religious. They immediately called me going to church twice a week a ‘cult.’
“I have been getting together with them over the past couple years to make amends, move on and work things out as a family. This documentary has created a further challenge between us as I work to overcome this public attack,” Miranda continued.
Miranda’s relationship with her family seemed to improve as of late with Miranda sharing two photos of herself at her sister’s wedding on Instagram on May 27, 2024.
“Had such a great time at my sister’s wedding,” she captioned the post.
THE DOCUSERIES
Netflix released Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult on May 29, 2024.
The three-part series’ description states, “After TikTok dancers join a management company and its associated church, unsettling details about the founder and their dark realities come to light.”
Miranda’s family spoke in the series, explaining how Miranda cut ties with them three years ago when she began working with 7M Films, a talent management company.
It is run by Los Angeles church pastor Robert Shinn.
The docuseries includes interviews with dancers who left 7M Films and are locked in civil litigation with Shinn.
A few dancers alleged in the series that Shinn encouraged his followers to cut contact with family in order to save them.
One dancer explained how Miranda once mentioned she missed her family.
The pastor reportedly told her it wasn’t a good idea to see them – and the dancer worried Miranda was being brainwashed.
Miranda responded on her Instagram Stories, “No one likes to be portrayed as their brainwashed/not in control of her own life/shell of herself/human trafficked daughter/sister when that just isn’t the truth.
“I can’t convince anyone to believe anything. I am just a woman trying to live my life. I am not a victim, I am not in any harm, I am not being abused. I’ve never asked my family or anyone else to ‘help’ me in any way. Respectfully, what I choose to do with my life is up to me.”
In a June 4, 2024, statement to E! News, 7M Films called the docuseries “a slanderous work of fiction, born from a failed extortion attempt, and invented for the sole purpose of gaining fame and fortune.”
The statement continued, “We will continue to pursue all legal remedies available to stop the spread of salacious lies and expect to be fully vindicated in court.”
7M Films also said in a March 2022 statement that there was no business connection between the company and Shinn’s Shekinah Church.
“It is true that the CEO of 7M, Dr. Robert Shinn, is also the Pastor of Shekinah Church. It is not true that there is any business affiliation between the two entities,” the statement said, in part.
SHEKINAH CHURCH CLAIMS
Shinn is a pastor at Shekinah Church in the Los Angeles, California area.
According to E! News, in 2022, Shinn filed a defamation lawsuit against a former church member, who denied the allegations.
Per Rolling Stone, she countersued him, and along with several other former church members named as plaintiffs, alleged in the cross-complaint that “Shekinah is a cult operating under the disguise of a religious institution.”
It continued, “Robert refers to himself as ‘the Man of God’ and preaches to Shekinah members and that [sic] without submitting to him and without Shekinah, their lives will be cursed. Robert required full physical and economic and control [sic] over Shekinah members.”
What is 7M Films?
7M Films is a talent management company founded by Robert Shinn.
Shinn is also the pastor of the controversial Shekinah Church. 7M has denied having a business connection with the church.
In a statement shared on Instagram on March 25, 2022, 7M said there is no “business affiliation between the two entities.”
The statement also said that 7M “is a talent management company that was born from a series of collaborations between a video director named Isaiah Shinn and a group of talented TikTok dancers who felt they were spending too much of their creative energy focused on business deals that often went unfulfilled and unpaid.”
According to the publication, the filing names Shinn, 7M Films, and Shekinah Church, “along with 17 other entities and individuals.”
Today reported that Shinn and the other defendants have denied the allegations in court papers.
At the time of writing, no charges have been filed and the case is ongoing.
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