For as long as there's been an entertainment industry, there have been predators preying on would-be stars. And today's online entertainment industry is no exception – but even the most cynical viewer may be surprised by just how horrible the story behind Netflix's new exposé on a TikTok-exploiting hidden system is.
Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult focuses on a management company that represents a group of prominent TikTok dancers. But the show claims that the organization is more of a cult than a company, and the documentary describes abusive behaviour and terrible tactics former members say were used by the company and its founder – and the lengths the dancers' families had to go to to help them escape.
What is the 7M TikTok Cult?
The 7M here isn't a number, but a company: 7M Films, Inc, formed by church pastor Robert Shinn. According to the documentary, 7M and Shinn – who threatened the production with legal action, according to Katie Joe Paulson, who appears in the program – operate very much like a religious cult, and they use the promise of stardom to recruit would-be superstars into their organization. Once part of the 7M family, former members say, they are cut off from their friends and family and put in an "unsafe environment" where they are exploited.
Netflix isn't the first media firm to focus on 7M. Rolling Stone reported the allegations against the company in 2022, allegations that became the subject of a lawsuit against the management firm the following year. As Rolling Stone explained online, the dancers were "claiming the owner brainwashed them, exerted economic and physical control over them, and demanded they 'submit' to him."
What's quite saddening about the story here is that while it's horrible, it's also horribly familiar: the film and music industries are full of tales of would-be stars signing bad deals or ending up with abusive management, their desire to be famous overriding their ability to spot the sharks that swim around any industry where there's big piles of money to be made. And that means there will be plenty more youngsters dancing for devils in the months and years to come.
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