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The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
June 8, 2025
By Jessica Morris
As the Newsboys continue to respond to allegations of drug abuse and inappropriate sexual actions by former lead singer Michael Tait, one band member admitted the mega-popular band wasn’t surprised by the news.
“We have obviously heard rumors over the years and each time something would come up we would try to find the source and no one would tell us,” lead singer Adam Agee wrote in a Facebook group.
“We asked Tait each time something would come up and he would deny it emphatically.”
According to Agee, Tait called a band meeting in January to make the announcement that he was leaving, just days before their first show of 2025.
“He had always said we would be doing this until we were 70 years old, and that’s truth whether you believe it or not,” he said.
After a June 4 story in The Roys Report (TRR) about Tait ricocheted around the world, a more unwelcome development for the Newsboys started unfolding: Radio stations dropping the band from rotation.
So far, it’s only been in small markets; a tiny station in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota; another one in Grand Forks, North Dakota; a third in Geelong, Australia pending a more permanent decision. But it’s not a trend the band can afford to have continue.
For David Wonders, Program Director at 104.3 The Pulse in Minnesota, the decision to pull all Newsboys music from the station came immediately after he read the report in solidarity with the survivors.
“I pulled all of my Newsboys music from The Pulse (the morning of June 5),” Wonders told TRR. “Beyond Tait’s crimes, the band is complicit if they were aware of what he was up to, or suspected what he was up to, and were covering for him.’
“As someone who has hosted Newsboys in concert, played them on the air, and helped them build their platform, I feel deeply betrayed. I am ashamed that I played a part in helping build the celebrity that Tait exploited to prey on others,” he said.
The revelations about Tait could not have come at a worse time for the Newsboys. They just released a new album May 30; their first with Agee as lead singer. Their May 31-June 16 Canadian tour was cancelled due to a dispute with the promoter, as reported by TRR. A U.S. and international tour is slated to kick off June 22.
A day after TRR broke the Tait story, the Newsboys conceded in an official statement on social media that they were “horrified, heartbroken and angry,” to read about the alleged assault of three male survivors between 2004-2015.
“We feel as if we and our families have been deceived for the last fifteen years,” they said. They closed by stating, “When he left the band in January, Michael confessed to us and our management that he “had been living a double-life” but we never imagined that it could be this bad.”
The Newsboys statement led to more calls for accountability, with fans questioning how Tait’s alleged behaviors and illicit substance use could be hidden in close quarters on a tour bus.
“While I agree with (and) think this announcement was necessary and appreciate it, it’s also necessary to address the environment and behaviors that made these situations possible – drugs, alcohol, naked parties. You need to deal with that!” said one Facebook fan.
“I’m disappointed in the four of you for this statement,” another fan said. “Allegations are not necessarily facts and to act like brothers for 15 years, sure sounds like your (sic) washing your hands of him or is it just trying to cover your own hind ends!”
The Newsboys Inc. and Newsboys Touring LLC are also trying to salvage their cancelled May 31-June16 Worldwide Revival Nights tour in Canada, which would have raked in up to $455,000 (US dollars). As TRR reported on May 30, Alberta based promoter Faith Live cancelled the tour due to low ticket sales and “mounting questions (that) came as a direct result of Michael Tait’s unexpected departure.”
Faith Live arranged for worship bands Sanctus Real and Collect Assembly to fill multiple Canadian tour dates, replacing Newsboys and giving ticket holders multiple options for refunds or future shows.
They also gave the public free entry to their May 30 concert in Kelowna, BC, stating that ticket holders could also redeem their tickets and perks at a later concert.
Jessica Morris is a music journalist, podcaster and author based in Melbourne, Australia.