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EXCLUSIVE: Former Newsboys Frontman Michael Tait Accused of Sexual Assault, Grooming, and Substance Abuse, Dating Back to 2004
Former Newsboys frontman Michael Tait allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted multiple victims, years-long investigation finds.
julieroys.com
It’s been called Nashville’s worst-kept secret. For decades, allegations have circulated that Newsboys frontman Michael Tait, formerly of DC Talk, had groomed and sexually assaulted numerous victims.
And after a two-and-a-half-year investigation by The Roys Report (TRR), which included interviewing more than 50 sources, TRR has documented Tait’s alleged predatory pattern with stories dating back more than two decades.
TRR also has corroborated allegations of Tait’s alcohol and substance abuse with multiple sources.
Three men spoke to TRR, alleging that Tait befriended them individually on Christian music tours in 2004, 2010, and 2014. They were all 22 years old at the time.
Tait’s music career has been nothing short of spectacular, starting with the band DC Talk.
Winning four Grammys before their hiatus in 2001, Tait, along with fellow Liberty University alumni Toby McKeehan (Toby Mac) and Kevin Smith (Kevin Max) made history in contemporary Christian music. In their 2019 book “Jesus Freak,” Will Stockton and D. Gilson call the band “nothing less than the Beatles of Christian music.”
DC Talk’s 1995 album “Jesus Freak” spent 79 weeks on the Billboard 200 list and sold more than three million copies.
Since the band’s never-ending “intermission” starting in 2001, mystery has shrouded the future of the Christian music stalwarts. And despite all three artists collaborating on multiple songs, a Jesus Freak Cruise, and a reunion on Toby Mac’s latest album, “Life After Death,” the band never got back together. And it seems it’s unlikely it ever will.
Tait began looking toward the Newsboys, a band founded by former leader singer Peter Furler and George Perdikis in Mooloolaba, Australia, in 1985. The band found success after moving to Nashville in 1991, releasing 14 studio albums and receiving four Grammy nominations before Furler stepped down in 2009.
Tait then became the lead singer for Newsboys, and Newsboys manager Wes Campbell became sole owner of the band.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that for many evangelical teens who came of age in the nineties, the Newsboys were a core part of their evangelical Christian experience,” said Leah Payne, professor of American religious history at Portland Seminary.
“They re-formed in some ways as an ongoing supergroup, most notably (recruiting) Michael Tait, who was one third of DC Talk. They’ve really had a second life . . . that sort of gives voice to American conservatism.”
During Tait’s time with the band, the Newsboys would score four number-one albums on the Billboard Christian charts, with 2011’s “God’s Not Dead,” reaching gold status. The album, and the subsequent lead song’s success, led to cameos in the multi-million-dollar film series, “God’s Not Dead.” The first film alone secured $64 million internationally at the box office for Pure Flix Entertainment, multiple successful Newsboys tours, and a swath of merchandise sales for the band.
Although there have been rumors of misconduct, Tait and his network’s influence and ability to blackball people from the industry have squelched them, sources say. The tide shifted Jan. 15, when TikTok influencer Azariah Southworth, who famously outed journalist Jonathan Merritt in July 2012, said in a video reel that Tait is gay. (After it garnered 250K views, that reel was removed by TikTok for “violent extremism.”)
Southworth did not provide evidence and went against journalistic ethics by publicly outing Tait’s alleged sexuality without consent. But it was enough to disrupt the status quo in Nashville, where the heart of Christian music’s power and money reside...
(Full story at above link)
