Christian rock band singer Michael Tait accused of sexual assault, drug abuse after he's ‘been living a double-life': report
The former lead singer of an award-winning Christian-rock band was allegedly 'living a double life' as he faces accusations of sexual assault, grooming and drug abuse dating as far two decades.
Michael Tait, who served as the frontman for Newsboys for 16 years before leaving in January, allegedly abused alcohol and drugs before inappropriately touching several people, according to an investigative report from Christian media outlet, The Roys Report.
Newsboys' current members, Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips, Jeff Frankenstein and Adam Agee, addressed the allegations against their former bandmate on Friday.
'Last night our hearts were shattered when we read the news alleging drug abuse and inappropriate sexual actions by our former lead singer, Michael Tait. While Michael has not addressed these allegations, we are devastated even by the implications,' the band wrote on Instagram.
'First and foremost, our hearts are with the victims who have bravely shared their stories. If you are a victim, we urge you to come forward. We absolutely do not condone any form of sexual assault.'
The band members described themselves as fathers and husbands who were left 'horrified, heartbroken and angered' over the allegations against Tait.
Tait, 59, allegedly confessed that he had been 'living a double life' when he left the group, the band claimed.
'We never imagined that it could be this bad,' the band added.
Tait announced he was departing Newsboys on Jan. 16, a day after a TikToker Azariah Southworth made a viral post claiming the singer was gay.
The post reached over 250,000 views before it was removed from the platform for 'violent extremism,' according to the outlet.
Tait didn't address the viral TikTok in his decision to leave the band.
'While this may come to as a surprise given I've been touring ever since college, I've made for me what is a monumental and heartfelt decision that it is time to stepown from Newsboys,' he wrote in an Instagram post on Jan. 16. 'This decision does not come lightly and has been a shock to even myself, but amidst prayer and fasting, I have clarity that this is the right decision.'
Tate joined Newsboys in 2009 after having been the lead singer for Christian rap trio DC Talk.
Tait allegedly befriended multiple people while on tour, including three men in 2004, 2010 and 2014, respectively.
Two of the men, who were all 22 years old when they met Tait, 59, claim they were offered alcohol and they woke up to the singer allegedly fondling them, the outlet added.
The third man alleges Tait offered him cocaine on the Newsboys' tour bus, gave him a back massage in a hot tub, and was invited to his king-size bed where the vocalist began to touch him non-consensually, the outlet reported.
Newsboys' were nominated for four Grammy Awards between 1992 and 2003.
They have been nominated for 30 Dove Awards, winning six times, and have won several other awards, including a Billboard Music Video Award and two Nashville Music Awards.
The band appeared in the movie 'God's Not Dead' as themselves performing a concert attended by the main characters played by Shane Harper and Kevin Sorbo.
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Fox News
26 minutes ago
- Fox News
Rod Stewart's unusual 'brick into the pool' workout helps keep him fit at 80
Despite joking that it takes "lots of women, drugs and wine" to keep up with his busy performing schedule now that he's 80 years old, Rod Stewart has traded many of his rock 'n' roll vices for healthier habits. The "Maggie May" singer told AARP about how he stays fit entering his ninth decade: "Lots of women, drugs and wine. No, I keep myself very fit," he said. "I played soccer all my life – don't so much anymore, because I had a knee replacement. And I've always had a trainer – same guy for 38 years." Stewart, who turned 80 in January, explained he has an indoor pool, "massive" gym and golf course at his disposal. "We do a lot of underwater training, where the trainer throws a brick into the pool and I have to dive in, push the brick to the end of the pool, and come up," Stewart said. He added that Frank Sinatra – who thought he always had a sore throat because of his gravelly voice – told him: "Rod, the secret to being a great singer is having powerful lungs. Do lots of underwater swimming, where you hold your breath." Aside from swimming, Stewart is also taking a page from Usain Bolt and doing 100-meter sprints on his private track. "I got it down to 19 seconds by learning how to push off," the "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" singer told AARP, the Magazine, where he appears on the cover of their June/July issue. "I'm going to try and do 17 seconds, which I think is a world record for an 80-year-old." In 2023, Stewart told People magazine that his underwater workouts had been designed for the British Special Air Service (SAS). "You have a big rubber brick, and you've got to swim the length of the pool and push it the length of the pool, on the bottom of the pool," he told the magazine at the time. "It's really wonderful. Well, sometimes it's not wonderful because I don't want to do it, but I'd say it's fun." He added that in between shows, he makes sure he works out at least four days a week, which can include running, swimming or soccer. He told AARP: "Speaking of touring, one thing I'd like to clear up. Critics say, 'Rod was great, but he had to take a rest.' Drives me mad! When I do concerts, I change costumes, mainly because I like to show off, but also because I sweat a lot. I'm not resting." He pointed out that Taylor Swift goes offstage around a dozen times per show, "but they don't say that about her because she's young." To prepare for shows these days, Stewart said voice rest is important. "If you feel your voice getting husky, don't talk for eight hours, and the response is amazing," he said. "I drink tons and tons of water. And on tour, don't go to restaurants where you have to shout." He said he gets to the venue two hours before a show and his trainer gives him a massage. "Then I'll do my vocal warm-up, which takes half an hour, and ride a stationary bike to pump my legs up," he added. "I do like to have a drink before I go on, I admit that. One rum and Coke. Can't remember the last time I got drunk. And the drugs are long gone." The "Forever Young" singer was, however, forced to cancel several concerts last week. On Saturday, Stewart canceled his next six performances due to an ongoing battle with the flu."So sorry, my friends. I'm devastated and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to my fans," he wrote on his social media. He additionally announced the cancellation of two other concerts at his Las Vegas residency while he was on the mend. "I'm awfully sorry to have to cancel my show June 5th at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace," Stewart wrote on his Instagram on Wednesday. "My doctor ordered a bit more rest while I recover from the flu. Thanks for your love and understanding." He also previously canceled a performance at the residency, hours before he was set to take the stage, telling fans: "I am sorry to inform you that I'm not feeling well and my show tonight at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace is being rescheduled to June 10. Your tickets will be valid for the new date." Stewart revealed late last year he was taking a step back from the stage. "This will be the end of large-scale world tours for me, but I have no desire to retire," he said in a statement on social media. "I love what I do, and I do what I love." He added, "I'm fit, have a full head of hair, and can run 100 meters in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79." His residency will continue in Las Vegas until the beginning of October. Last month, he also appeared at the American Music Awards, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award, which he said he was "honored" to receive. Stewart also celebrated his 80th birthday in style this year. "We hired a massive yacht," he told AARP. "Cost me an absolute fortune. I don't mind – you're only 80 once. I've got eight kids and five grandchildren, plus various boyfriends and husbands, so there were 15 of us. We had three chefs. The boat was so big that I didn't even see some of it. We dressed up every night, with a different theme. One night, they all dressed up as Rod Stewart and didn't tell me. My dear wife brought wigs for everybody and some of my old outfits. It was a wonderful time."
Washington Post
30 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Friends raced to check out every Metro station in one day. Would they make it?
Lots of people — okay, at least seven people — have visited every Metro stop in a single day. It's even in the Guinness Book of World Records. But as far as they know, John Veltum and his friends are the first to try actually swiping in and out of all 98 stations. Why? To see if they could. Why now? 'We know that Metro is extending their hours,' Veltum said. Starting Sunday, June 22, the system will open at 6 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and close at 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. With that kind of time, they figured anyone could do it. For now, it still felt like a challenge: 'We were really under the impression we were racing against the end of the service day.' Trains have always attracted competitive riders — the first New York City subway run was in 1940. But Metro speedrunning has really taken off in the past couple of years as the system has gotten both more reliable and more savvy about social media. Veltum and his friends are Metro fans, but really they're the kind of people who want to turn anything into a game. They've also build a raft of garbage and sailed it across the Potomac. They weren't planning to submit for a Guinness — 'it's kind of sold-out,' Veltum said — but they did hope people would follow along. Would they beat the clock? On X and Instagram, followers debated the cost (a day pass is $13.50) and the bathroom access ('technically open to the public'). Louie Melluish and Will Sheriff built a model that told them the most efficient route. Running a simulation a million times, they were given an average completion time of just under 20 hours and a 72 percent chance of making it. They liked those odds. Megan Magette monitored the MetroPulse app for delays. And they used a guide they found on Reddit to position themselves closest to the escalators at every stop. They left Shady Grove in Maryland at 5 a.m. on a Friday morning, with a plan to get to Ashburn in Virginia before midnight. The goal was to hit the downtown stations during rush hour to take advantage of the highest possible frequencies in the most crowded stations. (Knocking people over was not in the spirit of the race.) At emptier stations that get fewer frequencies, they would aim to get on and off the same train to avoid wasting minutes. After finishing the Red Line at Glenmont, they doubled back and covered the Green Line from Greenbelt to L'Enfant Plaza, then the eastern legs of Blue, Orange and Silver. (There was a pit stop at U Street, where a friend brought them bananas and water.) To avoid a single-tracking delay — and make sure they didn't miss Arlington Cemetery, which closes before the rest of the system — they did the southern ends of Yellow and Blue before going back to Green. The final leg would head west toward Fairfax and Ashburn. Early on, they realized they might have overestimated the difficulty of the task. 'We'd been very pessimistic on our assumptions of when the next train would come,' Veltum said. The model also assumed they would never make it back on the same train they got off after going in and out of the station, but they did so a dozen times. That's where the guide came in. It's the work of Ethan Ableman, 30, a lifelong Metro rider, who put it on Reddit about two years ago. The idea came, unfortunately, from signage on newer New York subway cars. Following Ableman's advice on where to stand, they were always in the car closest to the exit. 'I wouldn't have taken this on except for the fact that I realized that there's this little measuring stick that is in the D.C. Metro, which is the platform edge lights,' he said. 'Every single station has exactly the same' (digression: almost the same) 'layout of the edge lights.' No tape measure necessary. The guide took him about six months to put together, with the help of Google Slides. Although he emphasizes that it is not an official WMATA guide, he did use their Helvetica font. Has he thought about doing a Metro speed-run? No. 'I am very much a transit nerd, but I'm more interested in the operations and the structure of the system,' Ableman said. 'People have different types of nerdy stuff.' So, back to our original crew. They made it to Ashburn at 8:30 p.m., with three and a half hours to spare. They had crisscrossed the region in 15 hours 35 minutes. The surprise favorite: Hyattsville Crossing (formerly known as Prince George's Plaza), an open station crowned by a distinctive Brutalist parking garage. They got a group shot in the otherwise deserted station thanks to a stranger who had been following along on social media and decided to greet them at the finish line. He wasn't the only one. Seeing they wanted to go to Denny's after the ride, an 'angel' named Anna showed up and offered them a ride. Yes, by car. After 98 stops, and twice as many closing doors, Veltum explained, 'the ding gets a little traumatic.'
CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Sports betting is legal and growing more popular. Harassment of athletes by angry gamblers is rising too
Gabby Thomas being harassed at last weekend's Grand Slam Track meet was shocking – except, actually, it wasn't, given how often it seems to be happening. Thomas, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, said she was verbally abused at the meet, reporting on X that a 'grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans (mostly children) shouting personal insults.' Thomas' statement was in reply to another post on X – which has since been deleted – showing a video of a person heckling Thomas while she was on the starting line, shouting, 'You're a choke artist; you're going down, Gabby.' The social media user bragged about how his actions had benefitted his bet, writing: 'I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win,' alongside a screenshot of two multi-leg bets on the FanDuel sportsbook platform. FanDuel said it had banned the person responsible for the abuse from its platform, explaining it 'condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes.' 'Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel,' the statement shared with CNN Sports added. It was in 2018 that the US Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law, which had prohibited most states from allowing sports betting. Gambling on sports is now legal in 39 states, which experts warn has opened the floodgates for a torrent of abuse towards professional and collegiate leagues from bettors who blame them for their financial losses. In March, the NCAA launched a campaign aimed at tackling what it described as 'the alarming prevalence of abuse and harassment student-athletes face from angry fans who lost a bet.' According to an analysis of abusive messages sent via social media to college athletes, coaches and officials during the Division I championships, 12% – some 740 messages – were related to sports betting, according to the NCAA. Instances of such messages included one user who threatened a college athlete with the message, 'Yo no big deal but if you don't get 22 points and 12 boards everyone you know and love will Be dead,' according to the analysis, which was produced with Signify Group. Meanwhile, over 540 abusive betting-related messages – including death threats – were leveled at men's and women's basketball student-athletes and game officials during March Madness, a preliminary set of data trends found. Clint Hangebrauck, managing director of enterprise risk management at the NCAA told CNN: 'I think athletes are under attack right now, frankly, on social media and in person, and a lot of the people slinging the biggest bullets are sports bettors.' Hangebrauck, who has worked at the NCAA for 15 years, said that there has been a surge of athletes receiving abuse since the federal ban on sports betting was struck down, adding that in certain states – including Ohio and North Carolina – a barrage of abuse towards student athletes was 'almost immediate.' The NCAA is now seeking a ban on proposition bets, colloquially known as prop bets, on college athletes, calling the phenomenon 'a mental health nightmare.' Prop bets are made on outcomes not associated with the final score and are often based on individual performances. 'You could even perform well, and you're receiving all this negative feedback from betters because you didn't hit specific betting lines,' Hangebrauck added, noting that about half of the states that do allow gambling in the US have banned prop bets on student athletes. Jason Lopez, assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin told CNN Sports: 'The way that the newly legalized sports betting universe works is that it's very common to make prop bets where, even though it's a team sport, you can actually bet on the performance of individual players.' 'It turns what could be a team game into an individual performance, too. And so it's easy to then focus whatever anger you have on the bet at individual players,' Lopez, whose research focuses on sports media and betting, explained. The issue of bettors harassing athletes is widespread across sporting disciplines, with tennis and NBA players reporting instances of abuse. For a few professional athletes, it's an opportunity to punch back. In reply to a social media user who gave him grief about his seeming nonchalance over a bad performance in a game, NBA superstar Kevin Durant posted on X in November 2024, 'Stop blaming me for losing money because you have a gambling problem.' Great dub suns, and for my parlayers, better luck next time lol For others, however, social media comments made cross any acceptable line. In the past few weeks, MLB players Lance McCullers Jr. and Liam Hendriks have both reported that their families have been on the receiving end of death threats. Houston Astros pitcher McCullers Jr. revealed he received threats from a man who took to social media and threatened to find his kids and 'murder them.' The Houston Police Department later traced these threats to an intoxicated sports bettor from overseas who had lost money betting on the Astros' May 10 game against the Cincinnati Reds, per Reuters. Boston Red Sox pitcher Hendriks reported similar abuse, telling that 'with the rise of sports gambling, it's gotten a lot worse.' 'Threats against my life and my wife's life are horrible and cruel,' Hendriks wrote in a post on his Instagram Stories, according to 'You need help. Comments telling me to commit suicide and how you wish I died from cancer is disgusting and vile. Maybe you should take a step back and re-evaluate your life's purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their families. He added: 'Whether it be Venmo requests, whether it be people telling you in their comments, 'Hey, you blew my parlay. Go f*ck yourself,' kind of stuff. And then it's, 'Go hang yourself. You should kill yourself. I wish you died from cancer.' 'That one kind of hit a little too close to home for me with everything I've gone through,' Hendriks, who in 2023 announced he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, added. Joe Maloney, senior vice president of strategic communications for the American Gaming Association, told CNN Sports in a statement: 'The outcome of a bet is never an invitation to harass or threaten athletes, coaches, or officials. Abuse of any kind has no place in sports.' 'The legal, regulated industry offers the transparency and accountability needed to identify bad actors and collaborate with leagues, regulators, and law enforcement to deter misconduct and enforce consequences. Unlike illegal and unregulated market apps or bookies, legal operators work every day to uphold the integrity of competition and ensure a responsible wagering environment,' Maloney added. Lopez pointed out that, while sports betting has only recently been legalized and commercialized across the United States, most sports have been associated with wagering since their beginnings, albeit in a more underground capacity up until recently. 'There's just a basic fact about (sports) companies and organizations that run these games for entertainment which is that gambling helps increase interest – it drives interest. So they like all the betting that's happening around them; it builds interest in their sport. 'Their athletes being abused, especially if they're collegiate athletes, could harm their entertainment product. So they have to take very public stances about this in order to try to mitigate the idea that you know this entertainment product is putting people at risk,' he added. Hangebrauck added to CNN: 'I think there's a responsible way to engage in sports betting, and a lot of fans and people do so. Ninety-six percent of people overall generally lose in sports betting in the long run, so just be responsible about how you react to that – own it yourself.'
