This article discusses death threats and allegations of sexual abuse.
TikTok dancer Miranda Derrick is continuing to condemn Netflix’s recently-released docuseries, Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.
The three-part docuseries focuses on talent management company 7M Films — owned by church pastor Robert Shinn, who also leads the nondenominational Shekinah Church. Several TikTok stars who were formerly managed by 7M alleged in the docuseries that the church operates as a cult, and accused Robert of sexual harassment and financial misconduct. The docuseries states that Robert has denied these allegations.
Miranda, who rose to fame alongside her sister, Melanie Wilking, joined 7M in 2021 with her husband, James “BDash” Derrick. The following year, Melanie and her parents went live on Instagram to publicly express their concern for Miranda’s well-being.
Miranda has long denied being in a cult, and shortly following the release of the Netflix docuseries, she issued a statement to her Instagram stories accusing the programme of portraying her as “brainwashed.”
“I love my Mom, Dad and Melanie and they will forever be a part of my life. The truth is, we just don't see eye to eye at this time,” she wrote. “I believe that this documentary is a one-sided story. 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,’” she wrote. “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 added, “No one likes to be portrayed as their [sic] 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,” she wrote.
Now, Miranda has issued the Netflix docuseries once again, taking to Instagram to reveal that she and her husband have received so many threats that they feel like their lives are “in danger.”
“Before this documentary, my husband and I, we felt safe. Now that this documentary is out, we feel like our lives have been put in danger,” she said in a new video.
“We have both been followed in our cars, we have received hate mail, death threats, people have been sending us messages to commit suicide, we’ve been stalked,” she said, while screenshots of some of the threatening messages she’s received appeared on the screen.
One of the messages that Miranda received read, “Kill yourself weird cult folk.” Another, which was heavily censored, branded her and James “inter race loser scum,” while a third message said, “Kill urself.”
Miranda continued, “Someone said, ‘If I see you on the street, I’m gonna come and gut you, so you better get security.’ Someone also said, ‘If I see you walking on the sidewalk, I’m gonna come and shove you in the trunk of my car.’”
Miranda went on to directly call out her family, saying, “Honestly, I don’t understand how my parents and my sister thought that this documentary would help me, or would help our relationship in any way.”
“I have been getting together with my family for the past couple years, privately, to work on our relationship, to make things right, to mend what has been broken. And I’ve been loving it. I’ve been loving getting together, laughing, just enjoying each other’s company. This documentary has made it very difficult to continue doing that,” she said.
“Honestly, I think that my parents and my sister have focused so much on this documentary that they’ve forgotten about working on any relationship with me. And that hurts,” she said.
Miranda concluded by saying that she’s struggled to continue posting content amid the release of the docuseries.
We’ll be sure to update you if anything else unfolds.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.