The lead singer of the rock band Paramore has said she hopes the Christian music industry "crumbles" following allegations of sexual assault against former DC Talk frontman Michael Tait.
In a message posted to her Instagram stories, Haley Williams expressed anger toward what she described as a culture of silence and complicity within the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry. “The amount of people I know who were likely changed forever by this man and by the industry that empowered/enabled him...” she wrote. “I hope the CCM industry crumbles.”
Williams also challenged the way faith communities have treated issues of sexuality, arguing that "being gay is not the problem".
“I grew up around this. I am not afraid of any of these people — most of them have written me off anyway by now," she said. "How many stories like this from this very small corner of the music industry will we hear before we realise that capitalising on people’s faith and vulnerability is the ‘sin’?”
Reflecting on her own upbringing in Christian music circles, Williams called for more “gay-affirming” support systems, claiming that some destructive behaviours may stem from repression.
“Because this is a man whose entire faith identity is built upon a faulty structure of self-hatred,” she said, “to please a system that would rather cover up abhorrent behaviour for 20-plus years (and make money off of it) rather than accept that being gay is not the problem.”
Her remarks came after Tait released a statement last week titled My Confession, in which he acknowledged that many of the allegations against him were “largely true".
Tait's comments followed an investigative report by The Roys Report (TRR), which detailed accusations from three men who claimed he engaged in inappropriate behaviour during music tours in 2004, 2010, and 2014.
According to TRR, the outlet interviewed more than 50 sources and described what it called a pattern of alleged predatory conduct.
“For some two decades, I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way,” Tait wrote. “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.”
