Miranda Derrick’s sister Melanie Wilking is beginning to tackle her followers after the discharge of Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.
Following her initial statement launched on June 2, Melanie Wilking (now Ekeler) took to her Instagram Stories to share her gratitude in a prolonged video message. “I’m very thankful that Netflix gave us the platform to share our story to more people, because in the beginning, you know, you could have just thought that it was a isolated family incident,” she stated on June 2. “And now, watching the documentary, you know that it’s so much bigger than that.”
Melanie and her household went viral in 2022 once they went dwell on Instagram within the hopes of exposing Shekinah church pastor Robert Shinn for allegedly controlling younger dancers in Los Angeles via his church and his administration firm 7M Movies. On the time, many didn’t believe their accusations, although their plea led a number of 7M dancers to depart the church and are available ahead with tales of economic, emotional, and sexual abuse.
Of the responses to the documentary since its launch on Might 29, Melanie says her favourite messages come from dad and mom who watched it with their very own teenagers and younger grownup youngsters. “They watch the documentary together and kind of [sit] down with their kids and go through some of those red flags that you may see when it comes to highly controlled environments,” she stated. “Because this can happen to anybody.”
After three years of preventing this battle, Melanie says she’s planning to proceed to share her household’s story however is hoping to seek out “balance” in relation to her social media feed transferring ahead. “It’s like this weird balance of keeping the story alive, because we don’t want people to just forget about it, and then move on with their lives," she continued. “Like, no, this is still very serious. And we don’t want Robert to be able to do this to more people.”
A couple of days earlier than the documentary’s launch, Melanie married NFL participant Austin Ekeler with Miranda Derrick in attendance. Nonetheless, the documentary alleges that Shinn’s followers have been inspired to spend time with their households with a purpose to share social media content material with involved followers. Miranda and her husband, James “BDash” Derrick, have but to deal with the documentary immediately, although Miranda has shared multiple dance videos since its launch. The feedback on these movies have been restricted.
Melanie instructed her followers she's going to proceed to publish wedding ceremony, honeymoon, and dance content material on her feeds for the sake of her “mental health.” Although she admits it’s been a “challenge,” she says, “I can’t let the negativity get to me and I need to continue to live a happy and positive life.”
She concluded her assertion by thanking viewers for his or her “love and support” whereas asking her followers to proceed to share her household’s story.
You'll be able to learn a full transcript of her assertion beneath: