A member of two of the biggest bands in contemporary Christian music has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting several young men over the span of two decades.
The Roys Report (TRR) published a report last week detailing lascivious allegations against Michael Tait, formerly a member of DC Talk and The Newsboys. Tait began his music career in the late 1980s as a founding member of DC Talk, alongside Toby McKeehan (TobyMac) and Kevin Max Smith.
The group’s popularity soared in the 1990s as it fused hip-hop, pop, and rock music with a powerful gospel message. DC Talk became known for hits such as “Jesus Freak,” “In the Light,” “What If I Stumble,” and many more.
After DC Talk went on a hiatus in 2001, Tait formed his own band. He later joined The Newsboys, another popular Christian act, in 2009. During this time, he was living a double life, according to several individuals who spoke with The Roys Report.
Michael Tait, an alum of Christian rock bands Newsboys and DC Talk, is facing allegations of sexual assault from three men he met in the Christian music industry.https://t.co/XaorKueKks pic.twitter.com/waZwbV1S0f
— MinistryWatch.com (@MinistryWatch) June 6, 2025
The report details sweeping allegations of drug and alcohol abuse and inappropriate behavior with young men in the Christian music industry. The men who spoke with TRR stated they were 22 years old when they had their encounters with Tait. The report notes that rumors had been swirling about Tait’s alleged conduct in industry circles.
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A man referred to as “Steven” told TRR that he had been “a huge DC Talk fan” and that he idolized Tait. Steven’s band was chosen to open for the Newsboys during a concert, which is when he first met Tait. Two months later, he ran into the former Newsboys singer, and they exchanged phone numbers.
Steven hung out with Tait on multiple occasions. Tait would buy him steak dinners and “expensive shots of alcohol,” according to the report.
In one instance, Tait invited Steven to hang out at his home in Tennessee. He allegedly plied Steven with bourbon to the point that he vomited. At this point, Steven lay down on the couch and Tait offered to give him a foot massage. When he woke up, he found Tait “fondling my genitals, and then he was also kissing my mouth.”
“Eventually I just moved my head, and he stopped, and then he just kind of froze too,” Steven recounted.
Steven did not go public with his allegations because he believed Tait “was basically the top of the food chain” and that “he could either (help me) get jobs, or he could not get (me) jobs. I didn’t want to screw myself.”
FAMED CHRISTIAN ARTIST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE
— Robbie Harvey (@therobbieharvey) June 6, 2025
Newsboys frontman and former member of the Grammy Award-winning group DC Talk, Michael Tait, is being accused of grooming and sexually abusing three men in 2004, 2010, and 2014.
In a scathing two-and-a-half-year investigation… pic.twitter.com/HSu4rhBNKP
Tait allegedly used his status as a Christian music legend to gain favor with young men who were just starting out in the industry.
Another victim referred to as “Phillip” told TRR that he met the singer at one of his concerts in after DC Talk disbanded in 2001.
Phillip and Tait traded phone numbers after this encounter, and Phillip saw it as a friendship and mentoring relationship. Tait was 16 years his senior and could open a multitude of opportunities for Phillip in Christian music. They texted casually over the next year, and Phillip was excited when Tait invited him to Nashville for a weekend to “hang out” and stay at his place. This happened twice.
One night, Phillip was at Tait’s home with a group of other musicians. Most of those in attendance were drinking, but Phillip was not. At some point, one of the individuals suggested they go skinny dipping in the spa. “Everyone just starts shucking off their pants and jumping in,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, they’re actually doing it?’ I’m the new guy, and I’m not very shy about that stuff. So, I did it too, and hopped in.”
When it was time to go to bed, Tait offered to allow him to sleep with him in his king-sized bed.
“He starts giving me a back rub again, and at that point I started getting nervous,” Phillip said. “He’s giving me a back rub for three or four minutes, and it’s just slowly getting lower. . . . In the hot tub he had stopped at my lower back, but he just kept going lower until he was, like, actually massaging my butt cheeks. And I’m (laying) there, like, kind of frozen. It’s a new friend, and you look up to him. (I) don’t want to blow up a friendship.”
Phillip told TRR he was unsure what to say to Tait because he didn’t want to “offend (Tait) or make him mad.” However, Phillip said after 30 seconds of Tait massaging his bottom, Tait put his fingers in his anal region, and Phillip spoke up.
“I was just like, ‘Hey, man, I’m not into that. That’s not cool with me,’” Phillip recalled.
Another individual alleged that Tait groped him while he was asleep in The Newsboys’ tour bus after offering him cocaine.
The Newboys issued a statement saying, “We are horrified, heartbroken, and angry at this report and in many ways, we feel as if we and our families have been deceived for the last fifteen years,” and that Tait “confessed to us and our management that he ‘had been living a double-life,’ but we never imagined that it could be this bad.”
This one hits hard. I was a huge fan of DC Talk in the 1990s when I was in high school, as were most of my friends. I’d seen them in concert twice. I had to buy multiple “Jesus Freak” CDs because I would wear them out from playing them too much. I can still recite the rap portion of the titular song.
I was also a musician back then, and I imagined that one day I would be touring with a band. I looked up to Tait and the other members of the group. I am already aware that the Christian music industry has a dark side. But, as The Newsboys suggested, I didn’t know it was this bad.
I’d encourage Christians to read the entire TRR report — I could not include all the details as it would make this piece too long.
This is one of several stories showing that this industry needs greater accountability. Sometimes, those who follow Christ are doing the exact opposite, and it weakens the gospel message.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Brennan Manning, which ironically appears on the “Jesus Freak” album: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
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