“There are multiple people who have had similar experiences,” Steven told TRR. “I would like to share it if it helps other people.” Because now, Steven said, “I’ve moved on from that trauma.”
Former Newsboys Crew Member Alleges Tait Sexually Assaulted Him After a Night of Drinking on the Tour Bus
A third accuser, whom TRR identifies as “Taylor,” was a Newsboys crew member who joined the tour in 2013 and would travel with the band on their tour bus.
Taylor shared stories of how freely he claims alcohol flowed on the Newsboys tour bus. “Everyone could drink,” Taylor said, “We’d pretty much drink at least a little bit every day. There were probably a couple days we missed, but there was pretty much always, like a bottle of wine or some vodka [on the bus]. We always had cranberry vodka.”
Taylor alleged that one night after a show in the spring of April 2014 on the “We Believe Tour,” he and Tait got intoxicated after everyone else on the bus had gone to bed. Taylor recalled that he lost track of the time and when the bus arrived at its destination, it hit him that he only had an hour before he was scheduled to unload for their next show.
Taylor told TRR he realized, “Dang. I messed up. I’m pretty hammered. Then I went to the back of the bus [to sleep].” Taylor alleges that as he made his way back to bed, Tait followed him and offered him some cocaine. Taylor said that he declined and fell asleep.
Taylor alleged that minutes later he woke up to Tait rubbing his genitals. “I woke up but didn’t [fully] open my eyes, and I just realized that Tait was rubbing my penis through my pants, on the top of my jeans,” Taylor said.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is actually happening—d*mn,’” Taylor told TRR. “I just felt bad for him in that moment. I [thought] ‘This guy’s pretty f*cked up.’”
Taylor said that Tait immediately stopped after Taylor acted as though he was waking up. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’ but I was still tired, and I knew I was still going to load in the morning no matter what,” said Taylor. “So, I [decided] I’m gonna go to bed.” Look back on it now, Taylor said that he realizes what Tait did to him was “sexual assault.”
Taylor’s girlfriend, now wife, who was touring with another major Christian artist at the time, shared that Taylor called her later that day to inform her what had taken place:
Taylor had called me, and he was already in the back of the bus, and just told me, “Hey, I don’t know how else to say this, but this just happened. We’ve been up [late]. We’re all just drinking.” Then he [told me], “Tait offered me drugs.” I’m pretty sure it was cocaine at the time. And he was like, “Absolutely not. I don’t want to do that.” [Taylor] said, “I was asleep, and the next thing, I wake up, and he’s just rubbing my penis with clothes on. [Then Tait] just got up and left, and nothing was made of it.” I asked him how he felt, and [Taylor said], “He’s just a very broken man.” That’s his immediate response.
“We were young, and it was like, do you say something? Do you not say something,” Taylor’s wife told TRR. But at the time she said she “felt that it wasn’t my story to tell.”
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