What Is the 7M TikTok Cult? Netflix Docuseries Takes a Look at the Allegations Against Robert Shinn
Netflix’s docuseries Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult takes a closer look at a group of dancers who were unknowingly lured into becoming a part of a cult. Before long, they cut off communication with their families and were controlled by one man.
What Is the 7M TikTok Cult?
In 2021, a man named Robert Shinn founded 7M Films, and in an effort to get the fledgling company off the ground, Shinn approached social media influencers to become clients of the talent management organization. Shinn was also a pastor of Shekinah Church, where he allegedly preached a spinoff belief about the end times.
While he managed to procure several dancers on TikTok as clients, it was Miranda Derrick’s family who first sounded the alarm after their daughter signed on with 7M Films. Derrick’s family claimed via Instagram in March 2022 that they had not seen her since she signed on with the company in January 2021. A representative for Derrick, her husband, 7M and Shekinah Church denied their claims.
“Miranda Derrick is a successful businesswoman and a loving wife and daughter who cares very much about her family,” the representative said in a statement to The Daily Beast in March 2022. “While the recent portrayals of Dr. Robert Shinn and 7M Films have been wildly offensive and riddled with inaccuracies; those false claims will not deter 7M from supporting Miranda in whichever endeavors she chooses to pursue next.”
Soon after Derrick’s family went public with their concerns, former member of the Shekinah Church Lydia Chung came forward to issue her own concerns about Shinn. Chung warned others to stay away from the church and 7M Films.
Robert Shinn Sued by Former Dancers in 2023
In March 2023, three other former clients of 7M, Aubrey Fisher-Greene, Kylie Douglas and Kevin “Konkrete” Davis, joined an ongoing lawsuit against Shinn and claimed he was running a “cult.”
“Shekinah is a cult operating under the guise of a religious institution,” the documents read, per The Rolling Stone. “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.”
The court documents also alleged that Shinn interfered with the dancers’ COVID-19 vaccinations and urged members of the church to apply for COVID-19 relief funds. The paperwork claimed that the funds received equaled close to $100,000, but all of it went to Shinn’s corporations.
7M denied “asserting undue influence over its dancers or taking advantage of them,” according to The Rolling Stone.
When Does ‘Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult’ Premiere on Netflix?
The three-part docuseries premieres on May 29, 2024, on Netflix. All three episodes will be available to stream that day.
The synopsis for Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult reads, “A group of prominent TikTok dancers are trapped in a cult masquerading as a management company called 7M. Among them is Miranda Wilking, whose family is desperately trying to get their daughter out. As other dancers and former members escape and work to rebuild their lives, it isn’t until they come together to try and put a stop to the cycle of their abuser that the real healing begins.”
