Netflix Documentary About A Shocking TikTok Cult Is Going Viral
For better or worse, Netflix has dominated the true crime market. Every week, there’s another sensationalized retelling or exposé of some tragic, often obscure, crime. I used to be most indifferent if not exactly thrilled. True crime as a genre is intrinsically exploitative, and the most sensational stories, especially those streaming on Netflix, are rarely told with the kind of care or tact they deserve (which is to say nothing of their brazen AI manipulation). It should come as no surprise, then, that Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult has broken into the Top 10. Learn more about it below:
Per Netflix: After TikTok dancers join a management company and its associated church, unsettling details about the founder and their dark realities come to light.
You can probably guess what happened next if you’ve seen any Netflix documentary before. Those involved are taking umbrage with the program’s assertions, including dancer Miranda Derrick whose family is featured prominently in the three-part series. Broadly, she denies the allegations, namely that she’s been brainwashed, though pending legal action has kept her from saying more.
The most damming allegations center around Robert Shinn, an LA pastor at the Shekinah Church and founder of 7M Films talent management company. Whether it’s true or not isn’t for me to say, though it isn’t the first time Netflix has faced legal action.
I don’t know. It’s the way of the world, and I’m no more immune to it than others. I got really into Tiger King back in 2020 like everyone else. The broad scope ethics are getting rockier each day, however, and there might hopefully come a day when sensational crime is more than means to a Netflix distribution deal.
With Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult seeing so much success, I’m not sure that’s liable to happen. Fans online have been eating it up. Check out some choice reactions below:
Will anyone be thinking about Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult next week? Probably not. By then, everyone will have moved on to the next docuseries. Maybe there’s a Twitch cult out there.
What do you think? Am I too critical? Have you been a fan of Netflix documentaries? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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