Social media has always been a cult, but rarely to this extent. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re breaking down the shocking Netflix documentary series “Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult” in order to investigate how the cult got started, how it operates, and how it’s still recruiting members today.
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00:00 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're breaking down the shocking Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil,
00:06 the 7M TikTok cult, in order to investigate how the cult got started,
00:10 how it operates, and how it's still recruiting members today.
00:14 "Now it's turned into, 'Wow, all of these dancers are involved in this.'"
00:18 When the story of the 7M cult went viral,
00:21 it was shrouded in mystery and countering stories that swayed public opinion back and forth.
00:26 "Is she in the cult? What are your thoughts?"
00:29 But now, through the lens of the series and new testimonies,
00:33 we have a clearer picture of what's really going on behind the scenes.
00:36 So let's unpack the inner workings of the TikTok cult that operates right in front of our eyes,
00:41 and finally shine a light on the truth.
00:43 "This is a turning point for all of us. We need to leave.
00:46 And if we don't move on this right now, it could get way worse."
00:51 Cults in the digital age.
00:53 News first broke when the family of dance influencer Miranda Wilking
00:57 launched a campaign to expose the 7M talent management company as a front for a sinister cult.
01:02 "She cut off all ties.
01:04 I don't know of anybody that has spoken to her from before.
01:08 The only people that I think speak to her are whoever is involved in this religious organization."
01:13 Founded by the head of California-based Shekinah Church, Robert Shin,
01:17 the organization and the pastor himself are accused of a myriad of abuses,
01:21 fusing religious teachings with a profitable business venture
01:24 to ensnare dozens of dancers, models, and actors.
01:28 "So when you die to something, a new nature is born."
01:31 Although the group rejects the term cult,
01:34 Dancing for the Devil finally gives a voice to the survivors,
01:37 who are more than eager to share their side of the story
01:40 as they attempt to deprogram themselves and return to the real world.
01:44 "I miss that place.
01:46 Because it was too painful to accept the truth that I actually went through that."
01:53 One of the most striking aspects of the whole case
01:55 is the way Shin updates the mechanics of his cult for this digital age.
01:59 When we think of cults, they often feel like a thing of the past.
02:03 The Manson family, Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple.
02:06 At their peak of popularity in the 60s and 70s,
02:09 there was a sense that the listless young people who were brainwashed into obedience
02:13 had no idea what they were getting into,
02:15 since the phenomenon was only just garnering major media attention.
02:18 Today, however, the blueprints of cults have been thoroughly investigated
02:22 in countless TV specials and books,
02:24 so it feels highly unlikely for them to continue to successfully prey on society.
02:29 But as the times change, so does the nature of these cults
02:33 that are surprisingly still around in shocking numbers.
02:36 "How did I let myself get sucked into something like that?"
02:39 So how does a cult modernize?
02:42 It all begins with the initial recruitment.
02:44 Gone are the days of hippies being lured into an off-the-grid commune
02:48 and manipulated through psychedelic experimentation.
02:50 In the case of 7M, members are contacted through social media
02:54 and invited to join the talent management company
02:56 because of their growing internet presence and fame.
02:59 "Some are from So You Think You Can Dance,
03:01 gone on tours with Janet Jackson and Madonna.
03:04 They are everywhere online right now."
03:06 Next comes The Promise.
03:08 In a world where breaking through as an artist and hitting it big on social media
03:12 is becoming increasingly competitive,
03:14 7M offers young stars a guaranteed ticket into the limelight.
03:18 "We can give you a place, we can give you a home,
03:21 we can give you a car, we can give you finances, management, all this stuff."
03:25 Then comes The Hook, a twist that many of the dance crew members
03:29 were willing to accept for a chance to make it.
03:31 Although the company was only founded by Robert Shin in 2021,
03:35 he had been leading Shekinah Church since 1994.
03:38 Shockingly, when we meet Priscilla and Melanie,
03:41 who have been around since the church's inception,
03:43 we learn that Shin had long held a grip over his devout followers
03:47 and was utilizing 7M to take his cult of personality to the next level.
03:51 "Everything was lining up, and I was like,
03:55 'No f***ing way, he's still around.'"
04:00 Shin attracted the dancers who serve as the focus of the documentary
04:04 by preying on their interest in spirituality
04:06 and how that blends with the art of dance.
04:08 "I went in for spiritual guidance."
04:11 Like many false prophet cult leaders before him,
04:13 he used sermon to convince his newfound followers that he spoke for God
04:17 and that members of his church received blessings.
04:20 These manifested as the healing of physical ailments back in the early days,
04:24 but today, they now come in the form of viral success,
04:27 connections, and enticing deals that would advance the dancers' careers.
04:31 Why fight for your next breakthrough when you have a God on your side
04:35 who takes the guesswork out of the algorithm and simply grants it to you?
04:38 "I can take your finances from here to there."
04:41 "Amen to that." "Thank you, Jesus."
04:43 It's this update to the divine rules that proves just how cunning Shin could be.
04:47 "If you're in a vulnerable position, like struggling artists,
04:51 that seems to be when people are very susceptible to being drawn towards someone
04:55 that says not just that his religion is the path to heaven,
04:57 but he himself is the path to heaven."
04:59 And so begins the next stage of a modern cult scheme,
05:03 control, which requires isolation.
05:05 "I literally thought I was going to be in that bedroom in that White House
05:09 until, like, Jesus came.
05:12 Like, I was going to just be stuck in that room for the rest of my life."
05:15 Members were encouraged to sever ties with family and devote themselves to 7M.
05:19 "One of the main things we were learning is that
05:21 you have to die to your family in order to save them."
05:24 By convincing them that this new family was going to earn them
05:26 the life they wanted and a way into heaven,
05:29 Shin was able to disconnect his prey from the reality they once knew.
05:32 "Bury yourself. Get rid of yourself.
05:35 And anybody and anything that reminds you of yourself, you gotta die to it."
05:40 Though plenty of dancers like Miranda's sister Melanie
05:43 were immediately sketched out and left,
05:45 others were sadly suckered in.
05:47 They were moved into large homes and immediately put to work,
05:50 pumping out TikToks to earn Shin fortunes.
05:53 Like other content houses that have come under fire for hostile or unfair work conditions,
05:57 Shin too faced criticism for a number of abuses,
06:00 most notably labor trafficking.
06:02 On top of the management fees,
06:04 members were coerced into offering up more of their income as donations to the church.
06:09 Or really, Shin's wallet.
06:11 "With everything combined together, we rounded it up,
06:13 giving them like 60 to 70 percent.
06:16 And that's before taxes."
06:18 Just as their finances were being managed,
06:20 so too was their online presence.
06:23 Recent scrutiny over how much access stars have to their own social media,
06:27 like with the Free Britney movement, also pops up here.
06:29 "All the dancers that she danced with,
06:32 someone else is controlling their lives."
06:34 Just as cult leaders of the past maintained control
06:37 by curating the way their followers presented themselves,
06:40 Shin updated the cult leader handbook to moderate his disciples' social media activity
06:44 and communication with family.
06:46 "There were some emails back and forth, but nothing sounded like her.
06:51 Sentences were structured not how she would have,
06:55 words that I know she's never used."
06:58 Once Miranda's family went live with these details and word began to spread,
07:02 Shin reacted in real time,
07:03 weaponizing his victim's social media to rally angry internet mobs
07:07 and smear her concerned family as racist liars
07:10 who don't have a relationship with their daughter
07:12 because they disapproved of her Black boyfriend.
07:14 "We did a sneak attack.
07:16 James and Murr's visit to Michigan,
07:19 which the enemy never envisioned."
07:21 Shin would employ this reactionary tactic again
07:24 when the internet decided that his emphasis on dying to your loved ones
07:27 was a little too cult-like.
07:29 "Instead of cutting families, it's exactly the opposite.
07:32 You gotta meet with them. You gotta talk to them.
07:35 It takes diligence to be able to cut your friends and family out
07:39 in a way that they don't even know that they've been cut out."
07:41 So in the modern cult,
07:43 rather than penning novel-length manifestos to desperately get a view across,
07:47 the live, interactive nature of social media has become a tool
07:50 to amplify the leader's outreach and strengthen their iron grip.
07:54 Sadly, this is only the beginning of Shin's abuse.
07:57 Members also accuse him of soliciting massages and other favors
08:01 in exchange for everything he's done for them.
08:03 "He tells me he's a man of God,
08:06 and just like King David in the Bible,
08:09 he's allowed to have mistresses.
08:13 I want you to be my mistress."
08:14 With all this toxic behavior in mind,
08:16 it's hard to imagine why anyone would stay.
08:19 But the survivors spell it out clearly.
08:21 "Robert created a system where he's like,
08:24 'You need to fight for my attention.'"
08:26 By being close to Shin, you were closer to both heaven and power.
08:30 And if you were to leave him, you would suffer a miserable fate.
08:33 "Some of you may leave Shikai now,
08:36 but all their roads lead to hell."
08:39 To leave was not just a condemnation of oneself,
08:42 but to forever part ways with other members of the church
08:45 who had become like family, or maybe even were family.
08:48 "I knew if I leave you there,
08:51 I didn't know when I was gonna see you."
08:53 Religiosity was also used against his people,
08:56 who could not imagine that someone who appeared so kind and giving,
08:59 perhaps even having the spirit of God within him,
09:02 could really be a monster.
09:03 "As a man of God,
09:05 I wasn't thinking that he would ever do anything wrong to me or someone."
09:10 Shin was even careful to control the circulation of information within the cult,
09:14 discouraging members from speaking to each other about their experiences
09:17 so that they would remain under his spell.
09:19 "That's why I have you sign NDA, so that you won't share this.
09:22 Praise the Lord. Amen."
09:26 With all these atrocities coming to light,
09:28 surely Shin can finally be brought to justice, right?
09:30 Well, not so fast.
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09:48 How to Call the Cult
09:50 With former members and the families of those still trapped in the cult
09:53 all coming together to compare stories and share evidence,
09:55 the fight for justice is fully underway.
09:58 But holding Shin accountable will not be as easy as you would think.
10:02 "There was only one other person that attempted to sue Robert, and she lost."
10:07 A former case against Shin was tossed because the judge felt that,
10:10 given the religious context, a protection of the First Amendment applied,
10:14 and there was no rendering of undue influence.
10:17 "Full-grown adults who are deciding to join a group and buy into their ideology,
10:23 whether that group has a growing control over their lives and their mind,
10:28 not of legal concern."
10:30 It's even acknowledged that a civil lawsuit won't necessarily stop Shin,
10:34 so the documentary tracks the victim's efforts to open a criminal case
10:37 that would force him to serve jail time.
10:39 However, every hotline call or meeting with a government agent provides a new roadblock,
10:44 especially when it comes to the allegations of assault.
10:47 "One person, one woman is not enough.
10:50 If you have two or three women, then we can put together a case."
10:57 Despite what seems like a mountain of evidence,
10:59 victims are told time and time again that it is not enough.
11:03 "You have to have so much on someone for an investigation to even start."
11:08 Dancing for the Devil highlights the failings of the justice system,
11:11 and the red tape that allows Shin to continue to operate his cult
11:14 by skirting punishment on technicalities.
11:16 There's a numbing feeling of hopelessness,
11:19 with some of the people involved admitting that they've run into a wall.
11:22 "I feel like we've reached a point where it's like, we don't know what else to do."
11:27 In one of the most heartbreaking arcs of the series,
11:29 Priscilla is left struggling to pick up the pieces
11:32 as she re-enters the real world after all those years in the church.
11:35 "I think that you're expecting me to be normal.
11:38 All my friends do this, why can't you do it?
11:41 I'm not all your friends.
11:45 I am a dysfunctional sister."
11:47 And this crushing weight makes it difficult to imagine
11:49 taking on a tricky legal system that creates so many hurdles
11:52 for victims trying to build a case.
11:54 "It's easier to just forget it and walk away."
11:57 But despite all odds, the fight continues.
12:01 By levying this collective insight into the 7M cult
12:04 and encouraging those hypnotized by vicious cult leaders to speak out,
12:07 perhaps this can be the great push that finally brings Robert Shin closer to justice
12:12 and blocks digital cults like 7M from ever forming again.
12:16 "They messed with the wrong family. We're not going away."
12:18 What was the reveal in Dancing for the Devil that shocked you the most?
12:22 Share your thoughts in the comments below.
12:24 Check out this other recent clip from MsMojo,
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12:31 [music]