Two more men have come forward alleging singer Michael Tait sexually assaulted them. This time, the survivors say, the abuse occurred while Tait still was in the band DC Talk.
In an interview with The Guardian, former Evanescence bandmember Jason Jones and Christian musician Randall Crawford both said they were drugged by Tait and woke up to him performing sexual acts on them. Although the two were friends around the time of their alleged assaults, they initially believed their experiences were isolated incidents.
In light of numerous recent allegations against Tait for sexual abuse, the two men now have decided to come forward publicly about their experiences.
Jones said he was abused by Tait in Tait’s home in late 1998, when Tait invited him over for drinks after DC Talk finished rehearsals for their Supernatural album tour. He said he remembers suddenly feeling tired, and Tait offered to let Jones sleep in his bed. Trusting Tait, Jones agreed.
However, Jones woke up three separate times to Tait giving him oral sex, he said. The first two times, Jones passed out too quickly to push Tait away.
“I said, ‘No’ and pushed him off, but then, somehow, I passed out again. I woke back up and he was still doing it. …”
He told The Guardian: “I said, ‘No’ and pushed him off, but then, somehow, I passed out again. I woke back up and he was still doing it. I said, ‘No’ again, then nodded out. And then I woke up a third time, aggressively shouted, ‘No!’ and pushed him harder. It was then that he left me alone.”
Jones says he disclosed his experience of abuse in early 1999 to Evanescence co-founder Ben Moody. Although Moody said he recalls a conversation about a sexual interaction between Jones and Tait, he added he does not remember an accusation of abuse. At the time, he believed the sexual encounter to be consensual, he said.
However, he admitted to The Guardian, “I was a kid, only 18, and clearly didn’t realize what he was going through. … I’m sure I missed a lot of things I’d recognize today. I didn’t realize he was traumatized.”
Evanescence fired Jones later in 1999 after he exhibited a change in behavior, including “manic swings from depression to rage to paranoia and then to dissociation,” which caused the band to reconsider working with him. Jones said this firing prevented him from experiencing the success the band achieved a few years later.
Moody said he asked Tait about the sexual encounter, but Tait denied it. The two continued to work together on multiple musical projects over the following years.
Jones, however, said the incident led him to isolate himself and abuse drugs for the next five years. “I started snorting meth, then smoking it,” he told The Guardian.
Although he did not know about their intersecting experiences at the time, Crawford said, he remembers Jones’ personality change.
Jones was “a happy guy, a real sweetheart, but all that changed after 1998. I could tell something had happened,” Crawford said. “He didn’t tell me about it at the time, but he has since. And I believe him, because the same thing happened to me.”
Crawford said he confided in Tait while going through a hard breakup in 2000, and Tait invited him over to his home to hang out and gave him a shot of Maker’s Mark whiskey. According to publications from The Roys Report, this was the same type of alcohol used nearly a decade later to drug another man, who woke up to Tait fondling his genitals and kissing him.
Similarly, Crawford said he awoke propped up on Tait’s kitchen counter, with Tait holding his legs in the air and licking his anus.
“I said, ‘What are you doing, dude?’ and then he said the weirdest thing: ‘Hey man, did you catch the Colts game last week?’ Like we were just hanging out, chatting,” Crawford reported.
Crawford fled the residence after this, but he does not remember the drive home, which led him to believe Tait drugged him, he said.
At the time, he confided in two friends about the incident, both of whom corroborated the story with The Guardian.
“The joy and drive I had for music went away. Suddenly I had stage fright for the first time, brain-fog, anger issues, depression and was even suicidal for a time. It ruined my career.”
Following the incident, Crawford’s passion for music was stunted, he said. “The joy and drive I had for music went away. Suddenly I had stage fright for the first time, brain-fog, anger issues, depression and was even suicidal for a time. It ruined my career.”
Like many abuse victims who struggle to immediately understand and define their experiences clearly, both Jones and Crawford continued to have some involvement with Tait, who was a prominent figure among colleagues in the Christian music industry.
However, both men subsequently sought professional support for their traumatic experiences. They now hope their stories help other victims feel empowered to tell theirs.
Crawford also noted he hopes Tait repents from his behavior and uses the publicity as an opportunity to contribute to justice in the situation.
“The goal for us is for people to finally find their freedom out of prison,” Crawford explained. “I just want to encourage anybody else that’s gone through this, just come forward. There’s healing in that. That weight will be lifted. So come forward.”
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