TV
Catherine Shuttleworth
Jun 06, 2024
Us Weekly - Latest News / VideoElephant
TikTok dancer, and centre of Netflix's docuseries Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult, Miranda Derrick, is speaking out about the accusation that she joined an alleged cult.
Miranda grew to fame with her sister Melanie thanks to their shared account Wilking Sisters.
In Netflix's documentary, Melanie and her parents claim that Miranda cut ties with them three years ago after working with talent management company 7M Films, run by pastor Robert Shinn.
On her Instagram Stories, posted June 4, Miranda wrote, "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. 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."
She continued, "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," she added.
The docuseries featured interviews with dancers who left 7M films and are in civil litigation with Shinn. In 2022, he filed a defamation lawsuit against a former church member. She then countersued Shinn, along with several other former church members named as plaintiffs. According to reports from Rolling Stone, the filing alleges that, "Shekinah is a cult operating under the disguise of a religious institution."
During the docuseries, some dancers claimed that Shinn encouraged people to cut off contact with family members in order to "save" them. One dancer said that Miranda was "being brainwashed."
Continuing her response, Miranda wrote, "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," she continued.
In a 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."
"We will continue to pursue all legal remedies available to stop the spread of salacious lies and expect to be fully vindicated in court," the statement read.
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