A woman who toured with the Grammy-nominated Christian band Newsboys in 2014 has alleged a crew member raped her while former lead singer Michael Tait watched from inside the hotel room, according to a new report by The Roys Report.
The woman, identified under the pseudonym "Nicole," told the outlet she believes she was drugged by Tait during a night out at a Fargo hotel bar while on tour with the band and ministry Pulse, led by Nick Hall. She alleges she later blacked out and was sexually assaulted by Newsboys lighting technician Matthew Brewer in a third-floor hotel room.
Video footage cited in the report and reviewed by Fargo police reportedly shows Tait entering and leaving Brewer's room multiple times in the early hours of Dec. 16, 2014. At one point, surveillance shows Tait laughing and physically touching Brewer outside the door, then re-entering the room behind Nicole and Brewer. The woman later stumbled back to her own room and collapsed in the hallway, according to footage.
Nicole, who was 23 at the time and working for Pulse Ministries, told The Roys Report that she remembers feeling "1,000 pounds" on top of her body and hearing both Tait and Brewer's voices during the assault.
"I remember the feeling of my head being pushed down between someone's legs," she said. "I … guess oral sex, or an attempt, but I don't fully remember."
Brewer denied the allegation, stating through an attorney that the encounter was consensual and that he was never contacted by police until this month. He said, "At no point did she raise any concern or indicate that something inappropriate had occurred."
The incident allegedly took place during the Newsboys' "The Reason" Christmas tour, which spanned 12 cities in the Midwest. Tait, then 48, was the only band member who remained in Fargo during a scheduled break, along with crew members and staff.
Nicole said she did not undergo a rape kit or toxicology test until two days later at a separate hospital after being encouraged by a Pulse manager. A second hospital visit resulted in a diagnosis of sexual assault, according to medical records shared with the publication.
Despite the police report she filed later, Nicole said she was never contacted again by law enforcement, and no charges were filed. The Roys Report confirmed that Fargo police shelved the case, mistakenly confusing Brewer's name with that of her manager and concluding the interaction was consensual.
Newsboys management said in a statement that it first learned of the incident on June 12, 2025, and has launched its own investigation.
"This is an egregious scenario that we take very seriously," the statement said, noting it would take "necessary action" against anyone still affiliated with the band found to be involved.
Steve Campbell, the tour manager at the time and brother of Newsboys owner Wes Campbell, has denied covering up the incident. Nicole and other witnesses said he discouraged them from reporting it and told them not to "meddle."
"I resent any implication that I would ever cover anything up," Campbell wrote in an email to The Roys Report.
The new claims come just days after Tait issued a public confession on June 10, admitting to decades of drug and alcohol abuse and acknowledging that he had "touched men in an unwanted sensual way."
"I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it — sin. I don't blame anyone or anything but myself. While I might dispute certain details in the accusations against me, I do not dispute the substance of them," he wrote.
The statement followed an earlier Roys Report investigation detailing allegations from three men who said Tait groomed and assaulted them between 2005 and 2015. A follow-up Guardian report added accusations from six more men, including two who said Tait had drugged them before sexually assaulting them.
Tait, 59, was a founding member of DC Talk before joining the Newsboys in 2009. He abruptly left the group in January 2025. Christian radio networks, including K-LOVE, have since pulled his music from rotation.
Remaining members of Newsboys, Jeff Frankenstein, Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips and Adam Agee, released a statement expressing "horror, heartbreak, and anger," and saying they felt "deceived" by Tait, who they said admitted in January to "living a double life."
"When he left the band in January, Michael confessed to us and our management that he 'had been living a double-life,'" the band wrote. "But we never imagined that it could be this bad."
