Note: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.
After former Newsboys lead singer Michael Tait made headlines June 10 admitting he has preyed sexually on other men, a woman who worked with the band says she was raped while Tait watched.
She believes Tait drugged her after a late-night gathering during their 2014 pre-Christmas tour through 12 Midwestern cities.
The woman says she blacked out, then was assaulted by Newsboys lighting technician Matthew Brewer in a third-floor hotel room in Fargo, North Dakota.
According to video footage and a police report, Tait was in the room when the assault happened.
She and four witnesses told The Roys Report (TRR) the incident was covered up by Newsboys tour manager Steve Campbell.
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Brewer has denied any sexual assault, saying the incident involved two consenting adults.
TRR reached out repeatedly to Tait for comment, but he did not respond.
These allegations do not involve current band members Adam Agee, Duncan Phillips, Jody Davis, or Jeff Frankenstein. They involve Tait; Steve Campbell, who is the younger brother of Newsboys owner Wes Campbell; and Brewer, a Dove Award-nominated lighting and production manager who worked with the Newsboys until 2021.
Brewer currently co-directs Lumina Productions, a Nashville-based production and lighting company helmed by Daniel Smallbone and known for its work with For King & Country and Franklin Graham Ministries.
Until recently, the Newsboys had a sterling reputation as of one of the most award-winning, Grammy-nominated Christian bands in history. They are known for popular recordings such as “Shine,” “Entertaining Angels,” and “Take Me to Your Leader.”
Tait was their star. And his admission of guilt came only after The Roys Report (TRR) published the stories of three men, who alleged they were groomed and assaulted by the singer between 2005 – 2015. Since then, six more men have come forward—this time to The Guardian. Two alleged Tait sexually assaulted them, and four cited unwanted sexual advances or harassment. Two were minors at the time.
Innocence lost
It’s been 10 years since Nicole (not her real name, as TRR has a policy of not sharing the names of sex assault victims) met the Newsboys on tour. Then 23 years old, she had begun interning with Pulse Evangelism 22 months before and then was hired on staff.
The Minneapolis-based ministry, founded by evangelist Nick Hall, does live events, digital ministry, local revival gatherings and—until 2023—an annual Christmas tour named “The Reason.”
“God’s Not Dead,” the film based on the Newsboys’ song and album of the same name, had just released in cinemas, and the band’s presence was a major coup for the organization.
But nothing prepared Nicole for the early morning hours of Dec. 16.
Where it all began
Midway through the 12-show tour in December 2014, the Newsboys, their crew, and staff had three days off. All the band members except for Tait flew back home, but a small contingent stayed at the Ramada Inn and Suites in Fargo. Nicole, who was the only Pulse staffer on site, bunked in her own room, across from musicians Jesi Jones and Elizabeth Chan, who played for opening act musician Moriah Peters (now Smallbone).
This was Nicole’s second tour with Jones and Chan, and they had become fast friends. They invited her to dinner at the hotel restaurant, Basies, at around 6.30 p.m. It was a cold night, and Nicole was dressed in a bright pink beanie, a thick winter jacket, black jeans, and winter boots.
Feeling a bit off due to her monthly period, her plans were to have a bite to eat, relax with friends, and call it a night.
But at 9 p.m., the Newsboys crew began to stream in and order drinks. This included guitar tech Jack Campbell, second cousin of Newsboys owner Wes Campbell, tour manager Steve Campbell, and lighting apprentice Zech Germenis. Tait was one of the last to arrive, accompanied by Brewer and Newsboys merch guy John Burch.
Pulse allowed employees to drink on off days as this was personal time. And Newsboys band and crew were allowed to consume alcohol at any time, as long as it didn’t affect their work.
By 11 p.m., Tait was, “flailing his cash around as he walked up and down the bar, telling the bartender what drinks to make,” Chan told TRR.
The party racked up a nearly $300 tab, according to the bartender.
“From what I saw, the gentleman (sic) (at) the bar were drinking the most and I did not see anything that would make me believe otherwise,” he told police later.
With a free day ahead, the group remained at the bar until 1 a.m., when the bartender announced he would begin closing. Nicole told TRR she barely spoke to Brewer, if at all, as the distance and noise kept them in separate conversations. She was not friends with the lighting designer from Indiana who was 11 years her senior.
Over the course of six–and-a-half hours, Nicole says she stayed well within legal drinking limits and was ready for bed. But when Tait saw her stand up at 1:17 a.m., he yelled for her across the bar. He wanted to buy her, Burch, and himself a round of Tequila.
“(Tait) says, ‘Here, I have a Tequila shot for you, and we’re all going to take it together,’” Nicole told TRR. “Because Tait and the crew had been friendly in previous encounters, I didn’t think twice.
“Michael Tait has a very charismatic personality. He has a way of making you feel like you’re in the insider club, calling you sister or brother, wrapping his arm around you, and making you feel special. I did not know Tait very well, but he had always been friendly on show days.
“So, when Tait called me over to take a shot with him and Burch, it seemed harmless. I did not feel like I was peer pressured into it. But as a young professional in the industry, I wanted to be liked by these people. One shot seemed harmless. Unfortunately, I have next to no memory after that drink.”
After she took the glass from Tait, video footage taken at the hotel that night shows what happened next.
The third floor
After leaving the bar—video footage shows she left alone—she took the elevator to the third floor. Brewer had entered the elevator with her and footage shows them walking toward her room at the opposite end of the hall from Brewer’s room.
She pauses and turns to talk to Brewer. When they resume walking, she staggers briefly and goes to her door. Finding she can’t get in, Nicole and Brewer turn back down the hallway towards his room.
Footage shows Nicole stumbling again, and she appears to fall. Brewer stands by and watches as she gets back up.
On a second camera, she is seen entering Brewer’s room with him at 1:23 a.m. They walk apart with no physical interaction. Tait appears at the door and knocks at 1:29 a.m. The door opens slightly; the room’s lights are now off.
Brewer steps out, closing the door behind him. He and Tait draw close together, laughing and whispering. At one point, Tait runs his hand up Brewer’s torso and face and gropes Brewer’s crotch.
After a few minutes, Nicole opens the door. She is fully dressed and moves away from the door into the hallway. The three converse, then she latches onto Brewer as he carries her back into the room. Tait makes space for them to enter the room and follows, shutting the door behind them at 1:30 a.m.
While viewing the footage, Nicole told TRR that she did not remember this moment, but said she unequivocally would not have wanted to be taken back into the room. She believes a date rape drug, like Rohypnol, GHB, or Ketamine, mixed with alcohol, lowered her inhibitions.
The effects of date-rape drugs mixed with alcohol can occur almost immediately. They allow a person to stay conscious and walk and interact with others, yet have no memory of the situation. To be knocked out by such a drug is known as “roofying.”
This isn’t the first time Tait has been accused of using drugs with an assault. In a June 13 investigation published by The Guardian, two of the men interviewed believed they were secretly drugged by Tait. This left them in a semi-conscious state unable to fend off sexual advances, they said.
However, Steve Campbell, the tour manager told TRR that in his 15 years of working with Tait and the Newsboys, he has never seen Tait use illicit drugs.
Yet Tait admitted in his confession on June 10 that he “abused cocaine” and “consumed far too much alcohol.”
Friends come looking
Video footage shows Tait leaving Brewer’s room at 1:35 a.m. He returns four minutes later, then departs alone at 1:49 a.m.
He returns at 1:57 a.m. with Jack Campbell, the 18-year-old drum tech related to management. According to Chan, Campbell was one of only two people in the band’s entourage who were not drinking alcohol that night.
Footage shows Campbell following Tait, but after opening the door, fleeing after six seconds. Tait pokes his head out, seemingly to look for Campbell, then ducks back into the room.
By this point, Nicole’s friends were concerned. The last they had seen of her was when she had taken the Tequila shot, then left the bar.
“We were concerned because she didn’t come back to (her) room that night, so we went looking for her,” Jones told TRR. “It is my belief that (drinking and hooking up) was completely out of character for her and was definitely not her intent.”
Chan and Jones asked Germenis and Jack Campbell if they had seen her. According to Germenis, Campbell told him he had seen Nicole, Brewer, and Tait in Brewer’s room 15 minutes earlier.
“(I said) I’m pretty sure she went up with Brewer,” Germenis told TRR. “I knew Brewer was not a Bible-believing man, and they definitely had a couple drinks. I know Brewer did, per the usual. And they were like, ‘Can you please help us find her?’”
Germenis chose to help the women and knocked on Brewer’s door at 2:16 a.m. Video footage shows Brewer peering out of a dark room to speak to Germenis, then quickly shutting the door. Brewer is shirtless and only wears jeans.
Germenis told TRR, “(I saw) his half-drunk face open the door and (he) was like, ‘What’s up?’ I was like, ‘Hey, have you seen (Nicole)?’ And he said something like, ‘No, I haven’t seen her.’”
Germenis told the two women that Brewer said Nicole was downstairs with John Burch.
Hearing this, Chan left to search for her downstairs, while Germenis walked to the stairwell and spoke to Campbell, who was processing what he saw in Brewer’s room.
“He was like, ‘I saw Tait basically watching them have sex,’ or something like that,’” Germenis recalls.
“So, I (said), ‘Are you scared? Tait’s in there right now,’ and he’s like, ‘Yeah . . . it was the worst thing ever.’ And we basically just sat there. We were just kind of like in disbelief. Like, what in the heck is happening right now? How are we in the middle of this?”
TRR reached out to Jack Campbell, who declined comment on the record.
Jones continued to pace in front of Brewer’s closed door. After one minute she knocked, and this time, Brewer opened the door a little wider. He was still shirtless, and Jones told TRR he was sweaty. The lights were off.
She says Brewer told her Nicole was downstairs with Burch having a cigarette. But Chan and Jones knew Nicole didn’t smoke, so Jones headed downstairs to report what Brewer had said.
“We knew in that moment that was probably a bold-faced lie,” Chan said to TRR. “But of course, what are we going to do? You know, us girls are going to push down a door for a guy that’s six (foot) five . . . and strong?”
Video footage proves Nicole was still in Brewer’s room, because she left at 2:21 a.m., fully dressed but without shoes or glasses. Grainy footage shows her, wearing her distinctive pink beanie, walking down the hall, and collapsing at her hotel room door.
As for what happened inside the hotel room, Nicole told TRR that after taking the Tequila from Tait, “The next thing that I remember is being on a bathroom floor and feeling like a 1,000 pounds were on me. My body was so heavy I could hardly move. I hear Matt Brewer’s voice, and I remember (Tait) being in there.”
“I remember the feeling of my head being pushed down between someone’s legs. I . . . guess oral sex, or an attempt, but I don’t fully remember.”
Declining the rape test
By the time Chan and Jones arrived back on the floor two minutes later, they found Nicole crumpled on the floor by her door.
Chan and Jones told TRR that she had blacked out and her pants were unzipped.
“Even if you’re black-out drunk,” said Chan, “I’ve never seen anyone to that point of having no motion.”
At that moment, Brewer left his hotel room.
Chan pulled Nicole into their room, while Jones doubled back to ask Brewer what happened. She told TRR, “He was wasted.”
A video feed shows Brewer fully dressed and talking on his phone with Nicole’s crumpled body still visible in the hallway. To this day, Chan and Jones say they wish they had called an ambulance.
“I wasn’t very familiar with what roofying looked like versus just being fully intoxicated,” said Chan, who was 22 at the time. “I checked and knew that she was breathing. I brought her into the suite area of the hotel (room), and I put her on the couch.
“I couldn’t get her to talk or really be coherent at all. But I knew she had a pulse, was breathing normally, and perhaps had too much to drink. So, Jesi and I decided we would just let her sleep it off, hoping maybe the next morning, she’ll be able to tell us what really happened.”
Late the next morning, Nicole woke up and discovered that a tampon she had been wearing was shoved up her vagina as if by force.
“She had told me and Jesi, ’I woke up to giving Matt Brewer a blow job,’” Chan told TRR.
Over breakfast, Nicole tried to figure out what happened. She said she was—or had been—a virgin and had no romantic interest in Brewer or anyone else on tour.
Initially, Chan and Jones told Nicole she should speak to Jack Campbell, the only reliable witness they knew who could say what had taken place in the hotel room.
But Campbell wouldn’t look her in the eye when she spoke to him.
“He was so uncomfortable,” Nicole said. “He was just like, ‘It’s fine. You do whatever you want on your off days. I don’t care. You don’t need to talk to me.’”
Chan and Jones also encouraged her to speak to her line manager, Matt Best, who was responsible for her well-being.
“Excessive drinking and hooking up would have been very out of character for (Nicole),” Best told TRR. “I never had any issues with her acting out of line on tour.”
As soon as Best found out about Nicole’s memory of Brewer and Tait in the bathroom, he leaped into action.
He drove Nicole to the emergency room at Essential Health West in Fargo, encouraging her to get a rape kit and a toxicology test done. She was also given Plan B as a contraceptive, which she took.
But after sitting with him in the clinic for a few hours, Nicole started mentally spiraling.
“I remember feeling overwhelmed by the explanation of the process of a ‘rape test,’” Nicole told TRR. “I did not want to say that I was raped or even believe it, because it’s horrific if it’s true.”
Nicole added, “They brought in a different specialist to explain the rape kit and tried their best to make it all a safe space. But I was not okay and too deep in my own shame and fear to accept.”
Nicole declined both the kit and the test, a decision she bitterly regrets. Having these tests within 24 hours of a potential rape and roofying incident would have shown whether there was Rohypnol or similar drugs in her system.
“I was just shaking, praying for it all to end,” Nicole told TRR. “I did not go in fighting. My feelings more resembled the feeling of sitting in a principal’s office, waiting to get scolded. It’s a miracle I even stepped foot in that hospital because I wouldn’t have gone on my own.”
Her hospital record, provided to TRR, does not say if she was drugged and raped in the Ramada, but it does show why she was offered a rape kit.
“(Patient) was out drinking with co-workers,” the document says. “Thinks she had sex with at least one other male. Unsure if it was more than one person. States there was at least a third person that walked into the room during the sexual encounter. (Patient) concerned that there was a tampon inserted during the entire sexual encounter last night.”
Meanwhile, Best called the leadership team at Pulse. They arranged to have a meeting at their next stop in Williston, North Dakota. Nick Hall would be present when they arrived.
Tait’s alleged admission of guilt
Once in Williston, Nicole tried to avoid Tait and Brewer. But on the day of the show, she told TRR, Tait sought her out in the lobby.
“He pulled me aside and he initiated a conversation. And he went on and on and on about, ‘You’re my sister in Christ and I’m so sorry,’” said Nicole.
“In my head I’m thinking, did he help feed the (rape)? Did he initiate? (I thought) that something (was put) in my drink because I was not talking to Matt Brewer, so how did Matt and I somehow get to a room?”
What she heard next shook her. “He said, ‘I’m a grown man who tours and sometimes I just have these urges and we all sin.’ (He said) ‘We all make mistakes, and I’ve prayed, and I’ve asked for forgiveness.’”
Chan and Jones said that Tait also tried to make amends with them. Tait found them alone in the main auditorium. And when asked to explain himself, Tait told them he watched while Nicole had sex with Brewer, the women said.
“He said, ‘I had a moment of weakness. I should have done the right thing. I did not touch her, but I was in the room and I watched. Of course, I was turned on,’” Chan told TRR.
“He voiced that because he was asking for ‘forgiveness’ and ‘repenting’—we didn’t need to raise the issue further to authorities, that the situation would be appropriately handled by management.”
Trying to piece together what happened, Chan says she also spoke to Jack Campbell. He wouldn’t tell her what he saw in the Brewer’s hotel room, she told TRR, but “Jack communicated to me that he was told not to talk (about it).”
She and Jones also questioned Steve Campbell about the situation.
“He was very stern and very intimidating,” Jones recalled. “He said, ‘It’s being handled. Don’t meddle in this.’”
Newsboys management distanced themselves from Steve Campbell and claimed in a statement to TRR that the first they had heard of any alleged criminal activity was this past June 12.
“Last Thursday, June 12, 2025, management received for the first time a police report referencing some of the individuals you have contacted us about,” the statement said. “This was the first time Newsboys management was made aware of any alleged criminal activity related to this incident in Fargo in 2014, but based on what we read, it sure appears that the tour producer was aware of this incident and to this date, has not shared anything about it with management. We are also not aware of the band’s record label or booking agent being told either.”
The statement added, “While Steve has managed crews for the band over the decades, he does not keep an office at Newsboys Inc or Newsboys Touring LLC, nor does he hold a position of management over Newsboys.”
Leaving the tour
Matt Best, on behalf of Pulse, also began questioning the crew. Telling TRR that no one was willing to share anything, he and Hall confronted Tait in a meeting room at New Hope Church. The church had been booked for the Williston show date by Pulse but was not associated with the incident.
Hall refused to comment about the meeting to TRR, citing “pastoral privilege.” Best also declined to speak on the record about the meeting for legal reasons.
Afterwards, they were joined by then-Pulse Vice President Chris McFarland for a conversation with Steve Campbell. To their surprise, Campbell did not seem upset.
He was, “Almost inhuman, like clockwork in his responses,” Best recalled, “and did not seem agitated or did not seem empathetic.”
According to the Best, Campbell also dismissed the suggestion that something violent had happened in the hotel room and waved away the idea that they should investigate it. Instead, the Newsboys tour manager said, “Kids will be kids,” Best said.
And then, “He definitely, in his language, alluded to his job as a tour manager is to clean things up or make things go away, and that he’s been doing that a long time,” Best told TRR.
When asked about these alleged remarks, Campbell emailed TRR, vowing he never said any of them. “I also resent any implication that I would ever cover anything up,” he added.
Apparently, Brewer was never chastised for his alleged part in the incident, and he stayed with the tour for its entirety. Brewer’s Instagram account shows he also was back working for the Newsboys the following spring.
The last record of Brewer working with Newsboys was in 2021, when he produced a video for their single, “Magnetic.” The video received a Gospel Music Association Dove Award nomination for Short Form Video of the Year (Performance) in 2022.
On Dec. 18, 2014, Nicole and Pulse Ministries made the mutual decision that she should leave the tour. A friend took her to St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood, Minnesota, for a second medical opinion. This time she had a rape test done and she was diagnosed with sexual assault.
Returning to Fargo a few weeks later with Best, she filed a police report alleging an assault. But the detective they worked with seemed unwilling to pursue any leads, she said.
“(He seemed to have the) general tone of there’s no proof,” Best told TRR. “(He said that) even if she had a rape kit, it’s not worth processing it because it’ll take three to six months.”
Nicole never heard back from the department, and it was only during TRR’s research that she heard the investigation had long since been shelved. Despite the video footage, neither Tait nor Brewer nor anyone in Newsboys management were ever interviewed. The detective also confused Matt Brewer’s name with that of Matt Best and concluded that—despite Nicole’s testimony to the contrary—her interactions with Brewer had been consensual.
Pulse finished the tour but never worked with the Newsboys again.
“Today we are standing with our former employee as she tells her story and recognize the courage it takes to do so,” Pulse said in a statement. “We are praying for all the victims and for the truth to come out.”
Newsboys management has told TRR the organization is conducting its own investigation into what happened during those off days in December 2014. The group says it intends “to take necessary action against anyone who is currently affiliated with the Newsboys who proves to have been involved.”
That includes Steve Campbell, the Newsboys’ statement said. “This is an egregious scenario that we take very seriously,” the statement concluded, “and we will address it at every level.”
Through his attorney, Brewer stated he was never told about the police report until this month.
“I was genuinely shocked by its contents,” he said in a statement. Noting the report did not accuse him of wrongdoing, he added that “the interaction I had that night was between two consenting adults.
“At no point did she raise any concern or indicate that something inappropriate had occurred. If she had, I would have taken that seriously and addressed it directly.”
Brewer added, “I was not involved in any misconduct, and I respectfully ask that I not be connected to allegations that have nothing to do with me.”
But Nicole said she’s speaking up now to hold the Newsboys accountable and to prevent what happened to her from happening to anyone else.
“My hope, prayer, and intention—from the first day I called the police—is not ruin lives,” she told TRR. “. . . And it’s definitely not to tear down the Christian music industry. I’ve worked in the industry for 12 years and can guarantee there are good people.”
But she added, “I’d love for the Newsboys to admit they were wrong—to at least stop them from hurting people behind closed doors. I hope my story can somehow save someone else from the pain and destruction of sexual abuse or harassment. What if I was your daughter?”
Jessica Morris is a music journalist, podcaster and author based in Melbourne, Australia.
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62 Responses
Christians sucking down booze at bars. Really? These ain’t Christians. These are well paid pretenders. The whole ccm. Disgusting!
But it’s NOT “the whole CCM”, is it?
Do we dismiss ALL pastors then because of the crimes of the minority?
I think it’s so unfair to tar all of “CCM” with the same brush.
It’s like someone in the 19thC dismissing all hymn writers after they heard of the accusations of sexual misconduct made against Charles Wesley or they read about Horatio Spafford’s financial malfeasance and universalist heresy (as recounted in Jane Geniesse’s book, one of the few non “hagiographies” of Industrial Revolution era professing Christians).
In my view, dismissing all of CCM is akin to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” and it’s just an unjust bandwagon that too many are far too eager to jump on.
You read all of that, and then is the fact that christians are drinking alcohol that upsets you most?
Wow.
Are you saying it’s perfectly fine for a young woman, isolated from her friends or even just other people, to drink tequila shots with a group of men? Tell me why young women should drink tequila under any circumstances .
What a strange thought to focus on the “young woman” drinking? If SHE shouldn’t be drinking a tequila shot, then the men shouldn’t be either? This is dangerously close to blaming a rape victim for her rape? which is wrong, and gross.
Also, one tequila shot is unlikely to incapacitate anyone, unless it’s drugged. One tequila shot, even after a night of reasonable drinking won’t incapacitate anyone. This thinking is the result of villianizing any amount of drinking- which is nowhere to be found in scripture.
It was the young woman who had the most to lose. It’s ALWAYS the woman who has the most to lose by being isolated and in the company of a bad man or a bad group of men. This tragic story has been repeated so many times. Must we forever explain things humans have known intuitively for centuries about how innate drives, men, women, and alcohol work together?
I’m amazed you think tequila is so benign — I wonder what you think “normal” alcohol tolerance looks like?
Regardless, the woman is not in ANY way at fault for being the victim of a sexual assault. The guilt for that lies 100% on the perpetrator and his henchmen.
“Villainizing any amount of drinking” IS addressed in Scripture. Drunkenness is a sin. The most disgusting part of all of this is that these men took an innocent young woman and robbed her of her innocence by force. If we are under old covenant terms, death is their penalty by the theocracy. Under new covenant terms, arrest by local police, a fair trial, and strict penalties that should be swift, harsh and may also include capital punishment.
This all makes me so sick to my stomach.
Do you think Christians who smoke marijuana are okay too? I think you’re missing something.
That’s the part that bothered you……? Get help.
Your takeaway is that drinking alcohol is the problem?
Jesus and his friends drank. In fact, he was so well known for the parties he hosted and attended that the hypocritical religions people of HIS day called him a drunkard and a glutton.
But Jesus never sexually abused anyone. He never covered up for rape. And he never used his power to exploit his followers.
Keep your eye on the ball, please. Because your take — and those like it — sure ain’t it.
Wow. Please show me exactly from the Bible that Jesus “drank” and “was well known for the parties He hosted”. I must’ve missed the ‘party hard’ chapter in the gospels. Folks like you, who drink alcohol, always lash out on those who condemn alcohol.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xioZETFuW3s
Matthew 11:19 / Luke 7:34
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard…’”
This accusation only makes sense if Jesus was drinking fermented wine, as no one is accused of being a drunkard for drinking juice. The contrast here is with John the Baptist, who abstained from alcohol (Luke 1:15), and Jesus, who clearly did not.
Jesus turns water into “oinos” (οἶνος) at a wedding. The steward is surprised that the “best wine” is served last. Jewish wedding feasts involved fermented wine and were multi-day affairs. Running out would’ve been a social disaster. There is no linguistic, logical or cultural indication that this was non-alcoholic.
Jesus is frequently portrayed in the Gospels as:
* Attending weddings (John 2:1–11 – Wedding at Cana)
* Dining with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10, Luke 5:29)
* Accepting invitations to dinner parties hosted by Pharisees and others (Luke 7:36, Luke 14:1)
Celebrating Passover meals (Luke 22:15 – “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you…”)
These meals were often long, joyful, communal affairs involving wine, laughter, storytelling, and discussion—not solemn theological lectures.
Careful you don’t turn sidetrack this into a Temperance Rant against Demon Rum.
We saw the results of that around 100 years ago.
This is more akin to rockstar behavior sung about in grand Funk Railroad’s 1973 hit “We’re an American Band” with the addition of Roofies:
“Booze and Ladies
Keep me right,
As long as we can make it to the show tonight —
We’re an American Band!
We’re an American Band!
We’re comin’ to your town!
We’ll help you party down!
We’re an American Band!”
As for Tait, he’s just acting like it’s “A Diddy Party, Except CHRISTIAN(TM)!”
Based on the modus operandi Tait was using, my first thought was to the similarities with the cases involving Bill Cosby.
This is so disturbing I could barely make my way to the end. Thank you Roys Report for saying something no one else is willing to say…or give platform to…
I agree. Wow , just wow. The more I hear/read about this the more disgusted I am! So so sad!
Why I am not surprised that Tait allegedly used the “We all…” line?
Guilty, wicked people often use the “consensus deflection” to salve their conscience.
If only someone, SOMEONE had the courage at some point during all these years to get Tait to say “I” and “I alone”.
But his “charisma” (an adjective I have frequently read in secular news stories to describe murderers, rapists and other criminals) and domineering spirit most likely intimidated hundreds of older men who could and should have stepped in.
The Holy Spirit of God IS more powerful than Satan and his minions, which is why it is written “resist the devil and he will flee” (James 4:7).
[But the command before that – SUBMIT YOURSELVES TO GOD – needs to be heeded first, of course…]
This story is both heartbreaking and infuriating. The allegation that Michael Tait drugged a woman and then watched as she was assaulted—while others like the Newsboys tour manager allegedly helped cover it up—points to a horrifying culture of silence and complicity.
Even more disturbing are the multiple men who’ve come forward saying they were groomed, manipulated, or inappropriately touched by Tait—some while underage, some after being given drugs or alcohol. This isn’t just a single incident—it reflects a pattern of abuse and a failure of accountability within the Christian music industry.
Tait’s Instagram “confession” was self-centred, focusing on his own struggles while minimizing the pain of his victims. He mentions them in one vague sentence and then immediately casts doubt on the allegations. That’s not repentance—that’s damage control. His words only came after the victims’ stories became public.
I’ve personally stopped listening to Newsboys. No play = no pay. I refuse to support artists or platforms that protect abusers at the expense of survivors. Christian radio stations like K-LOVE have pulled Newsboys’ music, and that’s a start—but it’s not enough.
Survivors need to be believed, protected, and prioritized. The industry must address how it allowed this to happen for so long. Silence is complicity. It’s time for real transparency, justice, and reform—not just apologies.
I stand with the victims.
To “Nicole”…your telling the truth and exposing others horrific behavior from the sexual assault/abuse to sweeping it under the carpet (including the lack of investigation by the police!!) does not ruin lives…they did that all by themselves. By speaking out you are saving lives! Truth is not tearing down the “Christian” music industry..their burning it down all by themselves with their darkness.
Thank you for your courage!
Exactly, Megan. Well said.
Light CLEANSES.
Nicole is doing all of them a service in the long run by telling the truth and bringing light to darkness and exposure to obscurity.
1 Corinthians 5:1 says it all:
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate…”
This is VILE. Absolutely vile and evil. For this to be anywhere near the ‘Christian’ music world or even near to anything or anyone called ‘Christian’ is wrong. Disgusting.
Even many non-Christians would recognise this kind of behaviour as wrong, yet this is ‘Christian’ musicians. Absolutely evil.
Churches, CCM, Christian charities and groups and whatever else need to be purified of this and other sin and evil and the words ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26; 1 Peter 1:15, 1:16) needs to be heeded by all.
To add to that, these are crimes and they should be investigated by law enforcement and punished appropriately!!!
Someone who is incapacitated due to alcohol and/or drugs such that they can’t even walk down the hallway without assistance is UNABLE to give consent! There is no version of this story in which any honest person could believe that she consented.
amen! and as for ruining lives — each of those who abused her by violating her or watching the violation or covering it up needs to be held accountable!
Well, my hope that Tait’s public statement might be genuine is gone. He’s clearly in the habit of faking remorse and repentance.
Make sure your kids know to NEVER accept a drink (not even water) from someone at a social gathering. Order your own drinks and keep an eye on your glass. Tell the waiter or bartender that NOBODY is permitted to order for you or change an order you placed.
You can’t trust anyone. Especially not Christian icons.
While important to hold people accountable and bring things into the light, this article goes too far listing and describing specific sex acts. Shocking and traumatizing to read so I did not complete the entire article. Could have been written with way more wisdom discretion, the type I experienced at a previous RESTORE event. This makes The Roys Report feel like a supermarket tabloid.
i think the details are acceptable — it helps us to see how utterly dispicable these men were!
You are shocked at the article? Julie Roys reports the truth, evil is being exposed.
Not shocked. As a Christian man who appreciates the work Julie’s team does I didn’t expect to encounter the names of sex acts and details. I didn’t need those details to know the severity of the situation.
I try to avoid having sexual things come to my sight and mind to keep my path pure. God deserves that from me. I’m just saying please consider men like me who don’t need the details.
What you can do to help is call out the fellow “Christian men” who exploit women instead of crying about how you are tempted by descriptions of SEXUAL ASSAULT.
John Mark: the victim in this story is not you. You are centering yourself in this story, when the person drugged and raped and intimidated and silenced was the victim of many crimes and sins. The men who committed these crimes and sins must be held accountable and glossing over the details of their crimes and sin–their hideous choices–serves the liars. Covering up details serves the sinner, not the Truth. The article had a warning at the beginning about sexual assault. Knowing about sin does not equal impurity. Enjoying sin or fantasizing about sin does. Living with the possibility of being assaulted is every woman’s daily life. Experiencing sexual assault (as many as 1 in 5 women do) is FAR, FAR worse than reading about it.
CCM has been so gross for so many years. Hearing personally from traveling artists, this has been going on since the 70’s. Wake up people. I’m a Jesus follower who avoids CCM . It sucks, but it’s true.
There is a SA warning at the top, before the article begins. We all need to take responsibility for what we read when there is an explicit warning at the top.
I do agree it is gross and upsetting. I read it last night and was still upset about it twenty four hours later. However, without the blunt talk and the hotel films to back it up, there would be some people who wouldn’t believe or would say it’s exaggerated. If you read the Guardian article (that doesn’t have video to back up the story) it’s a whole bunch of people coming forward. Why, does The Guardian quote so many people? Because hearing it once or even twice isn’t enough for star-crazed teenagers. Bluntness is a warning and maybe it’ll save the unwary.
John Mark, using euphemisms to describe the nature of the rape Nicole suffered would make it seems less traumatizing. It would be less true. Nicole was much more traumatized and shocked to be raped, than you were reading about it. What was done to her should not be taken lightly, as it has been so far.
I’ve seen many people saying this.
The Bible didn’t gloss over a lot of details when addressing sin of this nature. We read a full account of how Amnon took advantage of his sister and promptly kicked her out of his home. We hear about how her trauma affected her and ruined her life. We hear that David did nothing about it and that’s why Absalom killed his brother and tried to take the kingdom from David. We hear about Jacob’s daughter Dinah in this situation. We hear about all these things because God wants us to understand why these things need to be addressed. We can’t treat this like any other sin because it’s not the same as any other sin. Sins of this nature are malevolent and they steal people’s futures in many different ways. The studies back this up. If we, as a church, want to walk in integrity with God, we cannot cover these sins up or minimize them. We would be disobeying Isaiah 1:17 which says “seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless”. This has been going on for too long in the church, so much that it’s become our reputation. When are we going to be willing to roll up our sleeves, dive into the mess, and as Paul says to do, “expel the wicked from among you”? (1 Corinthians 5)
Dealing with sin and delicate sensibilities cannot coexist.
so what exactly distinguishes Newsboys and perhaps other Christian music bands from secular bands. This story Was hard to read and depicts a secular band.
The hypocrisy. That’s what separates them.
Also, most bands — secular or otherwise — don’t rape people.
This upsets me on so many levels. The victim first. Her career and life destroyed by this. Second, angry (again) the way the “Christian” music entertainment world PLAYS its audience. Double life. Newsboys PR statement of denial few weeks back was total BS. Party frat roadie atmosphere at bars and double lie. SICK. Please go away. Stop platforming these people. They deserve all the financial (and some criminal) wrath that they receive.
It’s also time the other members of the band come clean if they indeed knew something was going on. (So far most of them ‘claim’ they were suspicious but had no confirmation)
Were they just lying to cover this up and protest the reputation of the band?
How naive do we have to be to think his fellow band members knew nothing, we’re all grown ups here and so are they. Birds of a feather and all of that, we know they stuck around because they were being idolized, exalted, popular and making loads of money.
This is filthy and abominable. May Yahshua have Mercy, today. He is restoring His Remnant to His Times and Law, His Order for LIFE, by His shed Blood on Calvary’s Tree: 20 cups of pure, sinless, perfect, priceless, saving Blood.
It is not too late to repent.
He is returning, soon, for a pure Bride.
Prepare to meet Him!
While I expect the victims in this lamentable situation will spend years in court seeking justice, I hope enough evidence has come to light to stop Tait from ever again being in the position to reoffend. One never knows, however.
It is insane to me that Elevate Music Festival is allowing them to take the stage in 2 days. It’s also insane to me that the Newsboys have not canceled their own tour at this point. Somebody needs to do the right thing. These allegations go far beyond JUST Michael Tait (like they’ve tried repeatedly to insinuate – it was “JUST him” and they had no idea). This is also THEIR TECH who they employed for years following, and who still works in the industry. This is their tour manager. This is multiple staff members…. all of them were aware of this when it happened! You mean to tell me an incident this egregious occured with multiple people aware/involved, and the band just plowed forward with Tait at the helm? This is serious. My stomach is SICK watching this go down ON VIDEO. Newsboys MUST cancel their tour TODAY or they are the most tone-deaf and complicit people. Money money money, career career career. Not okay!
And for the record, I’m a mega fan of 25 years.
But, But, what about their adoring fans and all that money, they can’t let them down, the show must go on.
WAIT A MINUTE, the show must go on. Please tell me you are joking, as the SHOW MUST STOP! As a Fan of the Newsboys since the early 2000s, and was supposed to attend their Canadian tour, which would have been my first Newsboys concert. But after all these reports and victims’ statements, including Adam Agee saying that the Newsboys knew there was something about Michael Tait. So, you think it’s fair that the Newsboys continue their tour, NOT AT ALL. Promoters are cancelling their agreements with them, with radio stations removing their records from their playlist. As I agree, I have removed all Newsboys from my playlist, including DC Talk, as I say, No Play Pay. Taking a stand for the victims, and why aren’t you?
While I stand with and support all victims of sexual assault, the video showing her leaving the room and then re-entering by jumping up and wrapping her legs around the man—raises some questions with the story.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
I’m going to choose to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are very naive, rather than willfully ignorant. There is no situation where this is ok. Regardless of her testimony, from her accused statements alone, he had sex with someone who was so intoxicated that she could barely stand prior and collapsed after. Tait admitted to watching this sex act knowing the degree of intoxication. Given that they had no relationship prior, there is absolutely no situation where this situation is not sexual assault. That is without ANY of her accusation.
And in case you do not know. If a person is intoxicated to this degree, they cannot consent. If they say they want to have sex, that is not consent. Don’t have sex with people who are intoxicated to this degree.
If you saw her making out with him, still rape. If you saw her flirting with him, still rape. Sorry, that’s the law.
Have you read what happens when someone is “roofied”. This is how victim blaming happens. Please don’t do that, educate yourself before assuming.
I had to reread the difficult article—it’s disturbing from start to finish. What’s even more troubling is that the victim’s manager runs Echo Concerts, which also puts on RiseFest. I live in Minnesota and have attended both the festival and concerts where the Newsboys have performed multiple times—after the events described in the article. Why would someone with firsthand knowledge continue to use them? It really makes it feel like the entire industry is complicit. And the pastor claiming “pastoral privilege” to protect abusers? That’s sick. There’s no excuse for that kind of silence.
You obviously have not read the police report – nor watched the entire video.
A woman who is pass out drunk (as shown in the video by her literally passing out in the hall before she even makes it to her room) or even worse – DRUGGED, is not coherent enough to give any sort of consent.
The video raises ZERO questions onto her story. Your statement is gross.
Let me guess – you probably think it’s partially her fault for drinking it maybe she her yoga pants were too inappropriate. Right?
Anything OTHER than calling this what is is and placing blame 100% on Tait and the lighting director is disgusting. Get out of here with this “there are two sides and she is partially to blame” BS. Shame on you.
If she was drugged, that is not abnormal at all. Even if not drugged, that doesn’t give consent for sex.
Someone needs to file charges. One of the many allegations has to have a charge that can stick.
Maybe it’s for the best if the Newsboys close up shop. If your lead singer is engaged in all sorts of sexual behavior, and the band members do not have a “clue” of what is going on.
In general CCM is too insular as it tends to center itself in the Nashville area.
To be honest, music executives do not care what you do as long as you make money
At minimum, there needs to be a haitus. This business as usual is a really bad look
I hope “Nicole” has a Great probono lawyer to sue ND police & detective, Newsboys, Promotion co., rapist Tait & Brewer! She was on her period, a virgin, non drinker, & she was targeted by Tait! Hotel video, where are her boots? Silence Newsboys like RKelly on radio, stop selling his concert tkts, call Smallbone, King & Country & Franklin Graham to stop using Lumina production where rapist Matt Brewer works! Bless you TRR & justice for Nicole & all class action SA victims of Tait & Brewer!
So we’re up to 9 men, 2 of them minors, and now this. At what point is “stumbling” really just habitual evil? Thank you for your reporting on this Jessica.
Organizations that allow talented performers to live unexamined lives do nothing to help the church. It’s time to invest less in entertainment and more in character.
Those who have NOT experienced assault, tend to minimize the events of others by excusing the attackers and blaming the victims. Its beyond their realm of experience. Many would rather protect their “heroes” of the faith. Obviously, God does not and the church needs to remember His role in these exposures. Selah.
G.
This whole thing is bad. It is over for the Newsboys…..
I just read in The Tennessean that MT had his own manager during his tenure with Newsboys, who was also DC Talk’s manager. Is it normal for an artist to have multiple managers?
https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/06/10/christian-singer-michael-tait-newsboys-assault-abuse-allegations-response/84140395007/