The subject of a controversial new Netflix documentary has stunned Instagram followers by attending her sister’s wedding while remaining an active member of an alleged cult.
The three-part docuseries Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult has mesmerized subscribers with its investigation into the Los Angeles-based Shekinah Church, led by pastor Robert Shinn, and 7M Films, an associated management company responsible for handling business affairs for TikTok Dancers .
Shinn is accused of indoctrinating members with his religious ideology while profiting from their talents by taking the largest percentage of the revenue they earn through social media and other commercial activities.
One long-serving member, professional dancer Miranda Derrick, is the focus of the documentary, with her distraught family claiming she was brainwashed by Shin and encouraged to abandon her family.
In the show’s final episode, sister Melanie Wilking and her parents make progress in their tentative attempts to reconnect with Miranda, who sporadically visits their family home after years of limited contact.
Miranda Derrick, the subject of a controversial new Netflix documentary, has stunned Instagram followers by attending her sister’s wedding while remaining an active member of an alleged cult.
The dancer models an elegant black dress – the color preferred by other family members on the day – as she stands in the grounds of a sprawling country house
But Melanie, who is also a dancer and shared a popular YouTube channel with her sister before becoming involved with Shekinah and 7M, admits her dream of seeing Miranda as a bridesmaid at her wedding might never become a reality and even harbors concerns about her invitation.
Given the context, viewers were understandably confused to find that Miranda, a member of the church since 2019, had attended the wedding just two days before the documentary’s release on May 29.
The dancer shared her own photos from Melanie’s recent wedding to Austin Keler, in which she models an elegant black dress – the color also favored by her mother.
She captioned the posts: “I had such a great time at my sister’s wedding.”
After watching the Netflix show, one bewildered follower wrote: “Soooo, what’s up with the Netflix show?”
“We needed a photo of you and the bride,” a second added.
Others took a more cynical view, claiming she didn’t attend the wedding at all. They posted: ‘What a horrible staged photo. You can see that in her arms.’
“See a staged photo after the documentary,” wrote another skeptical follower.
Viewers were understandably confused when they noticed that Miranda, a member of the church since 2019, had attended the wedding just two days before the documentary’s release on May 29.
The explosive new docuseries sheds light on the group of prominent TikTok dancers believed to be trapped in a cult
Another said: ‘These are all lies!!!!’
The explosive new Netflix docuseries sheds light on the group of prominent TikTok dancers believed to be trapped in a cult.
In 2022, Derrick’s parents posted a harrowing video claiming they had not spoken to their daughter in more than a year and that she was being held against her will by a church posing as a management firm.
They explained that the popular internet star had joined forces with a company called 7M Films in hopes of becoming a famous dancer in January 2021, but they later found out that the management company had ties to a Christian sect led by the controversial pastor Shinn.
But Miranda says she simply asked her family for space so she could adjust to her new life after committing to Jesus Christ in 2020, something she says they failed to honor.
In 2022, Miranda’s parents and sister posted a harrowing video claiming they had not spoken to their daughter in more than a year and that she was being held against her will by a church posing as a management firm.
Pastor Robert has been sued in the past by former member Lydia Chung, who claimed in 2009 that he took her from her family, brainwashed her and defrauded her of nearly $4 million.
A judge ruled in his favor in May 2011, but Lydia continues to insist he was carrying out something sinister.
“This is a cult,” she told The Daily Beast in 2022. “This totally ruins people. You hear about the people who went to Vietnam, who experienced such trauma, a lot of people can’t function like a normal human being, this is what it does.”