Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Documentary, Entertainment, Netflix, TikTok, True Crime
Marissa Dow
Topics: Documentary, Entertainment, Netflix, TikTok, True Crime
If we’re being honest, everyone occasionally feels that addictive itch only TikTok can scratch about an hour into a rot scroll (like every time I see that girl pop up to ask if I’ve been scrolling too long, I know something has gone terribly wrong). But there might be something actually dangerous going down behind closed doors related to the app full of viral dances and hungry internet celebrity hopefuls. Netflix’s latest investigative doc Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult covers the story of Robert Shinn’s management company, 7M, and church, Shekina. Shinn’s empire is possibly a front for something far less harmless, according to family members of the TikTok creators who have gotten wrapped up in the organization that they believe is a cult. So where is Robert Shinn now that the world is getting an unfiltered look at 7M? Here’s everything we know.
Robert Shinn is still the founder of 7M and the pastor at Shekina, both of which are based in Los Angeles. His last public response to the cult accusations was given through a spokesperson to The Daily Mail in 2022 where Shinn outright denied all of the claims. Shinn’s rep called the accusations “false,” “sensational,” and “wildly offensive and riddled with inaccuracies.” Shinn also addressed Miranda Derrick, one of the 7M members whose family has alleged she is stuck under Robert Shinn and 7M’s control. The statement says Miranda is a “successful businesswoman and a loving wife and daughter who cares very much about her family,” even though she is estranged from them right now. Shinn has not made any recent comment about the situation since 2022, but in the Netflix documentar,y Miranda’s family shares that Shinn has instructing his members to make limited contact with their families in response to the serious public scrutiny.
Robert Shinn is the CEO of 7M, the entertainment management company focusing on social media clients, in 2021. The company’s website says these clients include “professional dancers, actors, models and music industry professionals,” who have a collective following of over 10 million users. Shinn is also the pastor of his church, Shekinah, which recently moved locations to a new facility in Tujugna according to an Instagram account tracking Shinn’s impact called @exposing7M. 7M’s own Instagram and Shinn’s legal representatives refer to the leader as Dr. Robert Shinn, though it is unclear what Shinn is a doctor of.