Allegations Against Michael Tate Rise to Eight

Two former managers of Grammy-winning rock band Evanescence have come forward with allegations against Michael Tate, the former lead singer of Newsboys and DC Talk, claiming he engaged in sexual assault. This brings the total number of accusers against Tate to eight.

In a recent report, Jason Jones, a founding manager of Evanescence, stated that Tate drugged and assaulted him back in 1998. “It destroyed me,” Jones shared, reflecting on the impact of the experience. He also mentioned that after confiding in Evanescence co-founder Ben Moody about the alleged assault, he was let go from the band in 1999.

Jones recounted, “Ben was just 18 at the time and new to the music scene. I felt it was important to warn him.” He had been actively collaborating with Moody while trying to understand Tate’s influence on their music.

However, Moody has denied that Jones’s dismissal was related to the assault allegations, asserting that Jones did not make it clear that the situation involved sexual assault at the time. “He sort of presented it like a drunken joke,” Moody stated.

Jones, who met Tate through a friend in 1994, described a troubling incident at Tate’s Nashville home where he said Tate assaulted him multiple times, even after he expressed refusal. The ordeal left Jones reeling, and upon returning to Little Rock, he struggled to cope with the emotional aftermath.

According to Moody, the incident reportedly changed Jones’s behavior significantly, leading to volatile moods and eventually the end of their professional relationship just before Evanescence hit the mainstream. “Looking back, I suppose I could’ve been more cautious, but I was your typical 18-year-old chasing the rock star dream,” Moody reflected.

Jones later battled addiction for five years, a struggle he links to the trauma of the assault.

Additionally, songwriter and musician Randall Crawford has also accused Tate of sexual assault, claiming that in 2000, Tate drugged him with whiskey and assaulted him without consent. Crawford suffered serious emotional consequences, including depression and anxiety, but only named Tate years later.

After a subsequent reunion with Tate in 2020, which involved a proposal for Tate to produce an album for Crawford’s wife, he sought therapy to address lingering trauma. He felt a pressing need to deal with the emotional impact of that encounter.

In a recent wave of accusations, several individuals, including men who were allegedly assaulted as children by Tate, have come forward. A woman also alleged that she witnessed Tate drug someone and assist in a rape incident during a 2014 tour.

Tate, who stepped down from Newsboys in January, confessed last month to living a double life, battling drug and alcohol addiction, and experiencing issues with unwanted sexual behavior. He disclosed that he had recently completed a six-week treatment program in Utah.