Newsboys Canadian Tour Cancelled

[Dan]

I think Wes Campbell owns the band. Will check.

[George Harrison]

Truly crazy and disturbing news

[rexreed]

I'm surprised no one else had any comments on Tait...

It's not just Tait. Sounds like the band owner, yes they are outright owned by Wes Campbell has family members who were doing awful things. I rather feel sorry for the band members- they appear to be nothing more than hired guns,

[gman3]

Campbell owns the band post Peter Furler. It is his cash cow with the band members as contracted performers. Adam Agee has admitted that they were aware of the rumors that circulated for decades around Nashville regarding Tait's behavior and claimed that Tait always denied it when confronted. They were all drinking on the bus. Wine and cranberry vodka were common. The rest of the band may have been drinking responsibly, but they were enabling Tait just by having it on the bus. He took it a step further, hanging out late at the front of the bus continuing to drink and getting a young crew member drunk. Given that this was pretty regular for Tait, I have a hard time believing that the rest of the band didn't know anything.
It's getting worse for them as radio stations have paused or dropped their music, concerts have been cancelled and events have pulled their performance, and they have also just been dropped from their record label. I'm waiting for full on throwing under the bus. Campbell throwing Tait under the bus, claiming he was aware of the allegations, had his eye on Tait the whole time and didn't see anything, but Tait was so manipulative and good at covering up. I didn't know about the sex stuff, and I just wanted to keep the Gospel going forth (and the $$$ flowing in).
The band similarly throwing Tait under the bus. Then claiming they knew a lot and repeatedly talked to Campbell who did nothing. We have mouths to feed so we kept performing. We tried to address Tait's behavior but couldn't really do anything because we don't own the band.
Tait is Bill Cosby at this point; he just hasn't admitted it. He's hoping it ends with his confession. He indirectly denied the Sex stuff but was vague enough with his words so as to avoid immediately being accused of lying.

[Markus]

I'm not familiar with the American justice system, so I'm wondering:
Are these publications enough for a prosecutor to feel obligated to bring charges against Taint?

[Dan]

The drummer and Taint were joined at the hip and very touchy feely on several video interviews. There has to be more about their intimate relationship. Might be harder to try these sickos since it has been done in the court of public opinion.

[Mountain Man]

There's no coming back from this. The band and everybody involved with it is finished. I wonder how far this will go? Because there was also Newsboys United where Peter Furler and Phil Joel toured with the new band members from 2017 to 2021. Did they all know? Furler is a prominent figure in the Christian music industry, so the potential fallout is huge.

[gman3]

I'm not sure how the justice system works either. I served recently on an assault case. The two hospital employees that were alleged to have been assualted by the defendant were called to testify, but they were not the plaintaiffs. The suit was brought by the local prosecutor on behalf of the state.
Looking at the statute of limitations in TN, it appears he might be in the clear. Unless there were incidents with minors, and the minors are now adults under the age of 33. I don't know if him giving alcohol and drugs to facilitate the abuse makes a difference.
I believe Tait is hoping it ends with his confession and no one comes after him further. Many people have praised the confession and see it as him owning up to everything and being truly repentant. He didn't really own up to the sexual assault.
I don't think he will go the way of Ray Boltz. I predict instead that the confession is the first stop on his road to getting back into CCM or gospel music. The market and the buying public loves a good redemption story. If he is claiming to be on the straight and narrow; held accountable and living everyday as a new creation in Christ, they will market the snot out of that. His first solo record will sell quite well. The only thing that would derail that would be the modern age of social media not letting the truth die. If he continues to get hammered by the press, if anything new comes out that shows he hasn't changed, or it comes out that he is still trying to manipulate people and coverup the fact that he hasn't changed, then he's cooked.

[Mountain Man]

If the updates on the Newsboys Wikipedia article are accurate, then I don't think a simple confession and "I'm seeking counseling" is going to do it. If Tait is serious about repenting, then restitution needs to happen, and he should forget about being a celebrity or trying to turn his redemption story into a new revenue stream. It also sounds like this thing goes far beyond Tait and directly implicates other people in the Newsboys organization.

[gman3]

I’ve been through a similar situation. So many people involved. Half truths told. People covering up or obfuscating. It becomes difficult to sort of what actually happened, who knew what, and when did they know it. If the woman reported to police and the police went to Steve or Wes, I could see Steve and/or Wes covering it up. Maybe the lighting guy denies it so just give her a payoff and make it go away. It’s not unreasonable to think that the band members are just learning about the sexual stuff. However, I don’t give them a pass on the drinking and the out in the open backstage behavior.