#TikTok dancer’s family claims she’s ‘victim’ of LA-based ‘cult’
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“TikTok dancer’s family claims she’s ‘victim’ of LA-based ‘cult'”
An LA-based TikToker has allegedly been inducted into a cult that targets dancers, her family claimed in a now-viral video.
Miranda Derrick, whose maiden name is Wilking, had not spoken to her family since January of last year, they alleged in a tearful Instagram video that went viral and sparked a myriad of “conspiracy theories.”
In 2021, Miranda joined the entertainment management firm 7M Films, which some on TikTok claim doubles as the Shekinah Church, a Pentecostal religious sect that people believe is a supposed cult.
Miranda’s sister Melanie Wilking spoke at length in an emotional Instagram video with their parents, Kelly and Dean Wilking, posted Feb, 24, begging for her sister’s safety and return home, alleging that she is being held hostage by the organization.
“You don’t need to cut us off. Life is going on and there are so many exciting things going on,” Melanie said in the video, which has more than 9,000 likes and nearly 2,000 comments. She added that the past 12 months were the “hardest year of her life” but “we can’t share that [with her].”
The Post has reached out to Derrick, 7M Films and the Wilking family for comment after a follow-up video posted Wednesday showed a tense family “meeting.” Derrick denied being involved in a “cult” but didn’t directly address any of the “concerns” from social media.
The rift began when the sisters were supposed to fly home to Michigan for their grandfather’s funeral in January 2021, but Miranda informed her parents she wouldn’t be coming home. She later claimed her family “wouldn’t understand” why she couldn’t return home.
Her parents said they flew out to LA right after to see Miranda for themselves, saying the daughter that stood in front of them was “totally different.” They said it was odd behavior that Miranda would cut off and block her family, especially since the sisters were “attached at the hip.”
“We’re living in fear,” they said in late February.
“As a mom, I don’t know if she’s safe,” the Wilking sisters’ mother Kelly said through tears. “I just want to hug her.”
In the video, which was posted on Miranda’s birthday, her mother said she hadn’t spoken on the phone to her daughter since Jan. 18 of last year and claimed they didn’t even know Miranda got married to fellow dancer, James Derrick.
They claimed in the video it all began when Miranda joined the 7M Films entertainment management company.
“As a mom, I don’t know if she’s safe. I just want to hug her
Kelly Wilking, Miranda Derrick’s mother
7M Films, which Gawker reported is supposedly the Shekinah Church, is based on the Seven Mountain Mandate, a verse from Isaiah 2:2 in the Bible. This particular belief movement, with emotion-based faith ideology that originated in 1975, is followed by a quarter of the world’s Christians, a staggering growth from 6% in the 1980s.
The followers of the Seven Mountain Mandate claim their job is to overtake education, religion, businesses, government, entertainment, family and even the media, sanitizing them of witchcraft or demons, according to Gawker.
The Wilking family alleged dancers like Miranda are their next endeavor.
On Jan. 15, Miranda posted a video of her dancing to “My Life” by Billy Joel with the caption, “This is my life, leave me alone.” About a month later, her family divulged their side of the story on Instagram.
Her sister Melanie later posted a video on TikTok, which now has over 227,000 views, claiming that her sister was involved in a cult.
“She’s a victim of a church-based CULT in the LA area and has blocked and cut off all contact with her family,” Melanie alleged in the video. “This video of her dancing with these lyrics is chilling after the truth has come out.”
Melanie claimed the church is reportedly “secluded” and invite-only, with little information available about them online. It also alleged that they want to control members’ lives, time and finances, urging viewers to “flood her comments” to ask her to contact family after fearing for her safety.
Melanie, whose new husband James Derrick is also affiliated with 7M Films, responded to her family’s claims on TikTok and Instagram just four days after the family’s heart-wrenching video, saying she was forcibly removed from the sisters’ joint account and claimed her family disliked James.
“I am not involved in a religious cult,” she stated. “I can say that everyone in our management group speaks and communicates with their families.”
She called her familial situation “unique,” saying they weren’t supportive of her decision to live her life with James. She also claimed her parents called the police on James when the pair first moved in together because of their disagreement over her life choices.
“I ended up meeting with the police officers and they saw that I was fine and we actually laughed about the situation,” she wrote.
James, who goes by BDash, claimed that Miranda’s parents were upset that a white woman was moving in with a “black man from Compton,” who was divorced with a son, had no car and was renting a room to stay in.
However, he said 7M Films “helped me to become successful in a matter of months,” insisting that the group is “not a religious nonprofit organization but a secular for-profit company run by people who have faith in God.”
James and Miranda also crafted an Instagram page @wilkingsisters2, inspired by Melanie’s account @wilkingsisters, where the dancing duo are “forced to address the LIES,” per the bio.
While The Post was not able to reach any parties on Thursday, Miranda posted a video Wednesday evening showing a meeting in Michigan with her parents, who said they were happy to see her in person and that they missed her. Miranda addressed looking “mad” in the clip, blaming the fact she and her loved ones are “being stalked, lied about, harassed and used for strangers’ social media gain.”
“Not that it’s anyone’s business but my parents and I had a 3-hour conversation today about our PRIVATE family issues and I’m going to leave that there unless I’m forced to talk about it,” she wrote.
She also blamed Katie Joy, who runs the page @withoutacrystalball on TikTok and YouTube, and her “cult-like followers” for interjecting into their family drama.
Since the escalating situation has gained viral attention, TikTok bystanders have seemingly turned into sleuths overnight, investigating what could possibly be happening to Miranda in the so-called “cult.”
The Michigan-born Wilkings sisters originally started their online dancing careers together as a pair. They posted videos to the latest TikTok trends and amassed more than 3 million followers after shooting to social media stardom in 2020.
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