What did the Newsboys know about Michael Tait, and when did they know it?

A fair question in light of disturbing allegations about Tait, as well as the resurfacing of a report that the Newsboys didn't give us the truth about the departure of their first singer.

The Newsboys in 2009 (image courtesy Newsboys, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)

A few months ago, one of my fellow radical-lefty Christian friends mused that Christian conservatives almost to a (wo)man believed Donald Trump would expose the corruption of the left. However, my friend noted, quite the opposite has occurred. In the decade since Trump came down the escalator, right-wing evangelicals have been the ones under the hot lights—and melting under them.

It started with the nation’s self-proclaimed moral guardians rallying to Trump despite ample evidence that he was a bad guy. So what if he condoned violence, reveled in degrading women, and had at least 25 women claim he’d sexually assaulted them? No, no, the religious right said. All that mattered was that he stood for “traditional values.”

It seemingly reached its peak when COVID mushroomed, and large numbers of evangelicals refused to shutter in-person worship even though it was obvious that indoor gatherings—particularly in close quarters—were too risky. So what if numerous super-spreaders could be traced to the doors of churches? And then many evangelicals refused to get the vaccine, claiming it was against their faith. Have they considered—even for a minute—that part of “loving your neighbor” means doing your utmost to keep your community safe? And have they considered that because of their idiocy on this, there are a number of areas in this country where in-person church is literally not safe for the immunocompromised and high-risk?

Well, friends, we may have to add another instance of right-wing evangelicalism in its most unacceptable form being exposed for all to see. In case you missed it, earlier this month Christian rock megastar Michael Tait, former lead singer of the Newsboys and former co-frontman of DC Talk, was exposed as a serial sexual predator.

An investigation led by Julie Roys revealed that Tait had groomed and sexually assaulted at least three young men—in at least two cases after plying them with alcohol. Tait subsequently admitted to a years-long addiction to drugs and alcohol, and also admitted the allegations of sexual assault were “largely true.”

By then, however, how Tait’s former bandmates had handled it had come under heightened scrutiny. Tait’s successor as lead singer, Adam Agee, admitted on Facebook that he and his colleagues had heard rumblings about Tait for several years. However, when confronted, he adamantly denied that he was engaging in any inappropriate behavior.

This line doesn’t withstand even rudimentary scrutiny. While I can understand not wanting to jump to conclusions, there comes a point where accusations of inappropriate behavior exceed any possible good-faith interpretation. I’m reminded of how Dave Meggett was effectively blackballed from the NFL a mere two years after going to the Pro Bowl. However, his 10-year NFL career saw one allegation after another about inappropriate behavior with women. He was also frequently chased down for child support; he fathered nine children from eight different women.

Matters came to a head in the 1997-98 offseason, when Meggett, then with the New England Patriots, was arrested for assaulting a female escort in Toronto. The Patriots promptly released him. Then-head coach Pete Carroll put it best.

"If you see a pattern developing, at some point you have to decide if that pattern is taking you down the wrong road. We can't dictate behavior, but we can decide whether we want somebody to be part of what we're doing."

Apparently other NFL teams were of the same mind, because Meggett’s career effectively ended at that point. He signed with the New York Jets, reuniting him with Bill Parcells, who had coached him with both the New York Giants and the Patriots. However, he only played in two games that year, and the Jets didn’t re-sign him. According to SB Nation, the Toronto incident made Meggett’s questionable behavior around women read like “a rap sheet.”

It turns out Carroll’s assessment was very prescient. Meggett ultimately lost every penny he earned in the NFL to child support. He was convicted of sexual assault in 2010 and is now serving 30 years in South Carolina’s toughest prison. But even before then, his behavior made him radioactive in the NFL despite his numbers.

If you believe Agee’s account, you would have thought they would have drawn the same conclusion that NFL teams drew about Meggett. Again I ask—at what point do complaints about inappropriate behavior exceed all possible good-faith interpretation? Apparently Agee and his bandmates seriously expect us to believe they didn’t ask that question. NFL teams having more integrity than a Christian band? Process that for a moment.

Moreover, the core of the Newsboys’ current lineup had been together from shortly before Tait signed on in 2009 to his departure earlier this year. They’re asking us to believe that in almost 16 years on the road, they didn’t see any signs that something was up with Tait. If they expect us to believe that, they’re playing us for suckers.

Just when I wondered whether this was too harsh of an assessment, an article came across my bow that suggested I might have been too kind. Exvangelical influencer Josiah Hawthorne came across evidence that suggested this wasn’t the first time that the Newsboys haven’t been forthcoming about the struggles of their members. It came in the form of a profile of the Newsboys’ original lead singer, John James, that ran in British Christian magazine Cross Rhythms in 2007.

James had joined Newsboys in 1986, a year after they were founded in Australia. He was their lead singer until 1997. The story at the time was that he left to go into preaching. However, James told reporter Mike Rimmer that in truth, he was deep in the throes of a drug and alcohol addiction dating back to at least the late 1980s or early 1990s. He recalled that his addiction was so severe that he was drinking anywhere from one to two cartons of alcohol a day, and even took the stage while under the influence on some occasions.

James said he was forced out not long after confiding with his bandmates about both his addiction and the issues in his marriage. However, he believed that they saw he was spiraling long before then.

“I think they did but sometimes, you know what? We can see stuff but sometimes we don't want to admit it. Because you've got to understand that we're a part of a big machine. It's our career. It's our livelihoods. Actually you've got many families involved. Many people involved. Their livelihoods, their careers. It's a big moneymaking machine. Sometimes you don't want to see problems. Even though they're slapping us in the face. They're screaming out to us. But sometimes we choose not to see them.”

By 2007, James had turned his life around and was active in ministry back in Australia. But I find myself asking the same question as Hawthorne—why did the Newsboys have to lie about it? As Hawthorne put it in his thread, “it was more important to maintain their facade, and their paycheck, than to be honest with the truth.” I would add that in all likelihood, they also thought that if it came out that James was an addict, it could potentially keep someone from being saved. Uh huh. At the risk of playing Russian roulette with their careers?

Seen in light of their willful ignorance of James’ spiral, the Newsboys’ willful ignorance of Tait’s misdeeds looked even worse. It’s sad that this article didn’t get more attention, because if anyone put two and two together, the Newsboys should have been forced to explain a lot in short order.

Fortunately, developments in the last week should all but assure that the Newsboys will pay a stiff price for turning a blind eye to Tait’s behavior. First, The Guardian released its own investigation into Tait. It spoke with three other men who claimed Tait sexually assaulted them, including one who was 16 at the time. Four others claimed Tait fondled or made passes at them. Almost as seriously, 25 people with ties to the CCM world told The Guardian that Tait’s behavior was well known; as one of them put it, it was “the biggest open secret in Christian music.”

Given how many people apparently knew about Tait, the Newsboys’ willful ignorance about him seems reckless at best. At risk of sounding like a broken record, Tait could have denied it until he was blue in the face, but there comes a point where allegations of this sort exceed any possible good-faith interpretation.

And yet, in the face of all of this, the Newsboys were still promoting their summer tour on their Website. That move looked incredibly tone-deaf in light of the Guardian report. However, it seems downright sociopathic after another investigation by Roys revealed more outright criminal conduct by Tait. Surveillance footage from 2014 showed Tait drugged a ministry intern working with the band, then sat and watched while a lighting technician raped her. According to the victim, “Nicole,” tour manager Steve Campbell covered it up.

One would have thought that the Newsboys would have canceled their tour—or had it canceled for them—after the first stories came out. After all, common human decency demanded they do so out of respect for Tait’s victims. But now? I repeat, it’s straight-up sociopathic at this point. Or at least, it would look that way to someone who isn’t an evangelical. Is it that important to get people saved?

I’m reminded that Jack Black immediately shut down all touring for his comedy rock duo, Tenacious D, after his old friend Kyle Gass made a “joke” about Trump being shot. Tenacious D hasn’t gone on the road, or released any new work, since then. And yet, the Newsboys are still under the delusion they can hit the road. When comedy rockers have more integrity than Christian rockers, that’s bad, brother.

In light of what has been reported of late, the Newsboys’ claims to have been in the dark are simply not believable. They need to forget about touring, about releasing anything, until they give us a full accounting of what they knew about Tait and when they knew it. And even then, in light of the latest allegations, the Newsboys have a hard sell to make in order to justify touring or recording again. Given the circumstances, I can’t see how they can make it.