How a ‘90s R&B star weaponized Christianity against his children

Mikayla Thornton says her father, a founding member of Color Me Badd, used divine authority and a “rod of correction” to make his cruelty seem righteous

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There was a period in the 1990s when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing the R&B band Color Me Badd and their songs like “I Wanna Sex You Up.” The band still exists and performs around the country as a nostalgia act, but that took a hit earlier this month when the daughter of one of the band’s original members, Kevin Thornton, shared stories about how he abused her in the name of religion.

Color Me Badd with Kevin Thornton second from the right (screenshot via YouTube)

Mikayla Thornton told the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly that her once-famous father was a religious zealot who used a “rod of correction” on his kids, let her “date” a man who was 20 when she was only 15, and got away with this cruel behavior because he was considered a man of God. At one point, she even said her father’s behavior tainted religion for her sister: “To this day, my sister can’t stand to even look at a Bible because of the bruises she would have on her and the beatings she would endure… We were never safe.”

Saying that her parents were never charged by their behavior, Mikayla alleged, “They were so good at... They’re so good at making people believe that they are God’s, like, chosen people.”

“My relationship with my parents is so weird because all you want to do is love your parents. And all we ever have done is love our parents. We thought the world was against us because that’s what they would tell us,” she said. “It was a cult. My dad was the head; we were his disciples. We worshipped our father.”

A lot of what she describes, including the stick her father used to physically abuse her, appears to come right out of To Train Up a Child, the 1994 pro-child abuse manual written by conservative Christians Michael & Debi Pearl, though she doesn’t mention them or the book by name.

At one point, she says that when she began maturing and turning into a woman, her parents told her they hoped she would get in a car accident that would paralyze her—to the point that she would “become so dismembered and so disfigured in my face”—all so God would “humble” her.

The band has since responded to the interview by letting people know Thornton hasn’t been involved with the group since 2016 and their “hearts are with Mikayla”:

Color Me Badd is aware of the serious and deeply personal allegations recently brought forward concerning former member Kevin Thornton and members of his family.

We recognize the courage it takes for anyone to speak publicly about painful personal experiences. Our hearts are with Mikayla, her siblings, and all those affected by the circumstances described. We are lifting them, their families, and loved ones up in prayer during what is undoubtedly an incredibly difficult time.

…

Given the sensitive and deeply personal nature of these allegations, Color Me Badd will not comment on their substance or on private matters involving individuals who are no longer affiliated with the group.

Our sincere thoughts remain with everyone affected, and we continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

It feels unfair to punish the band for what a founding member did when he hasn’t been involved with group in over a decade—unfair in the sense that headlines about this story invoke the band’s name because that’s the main way people are familiar with Thornton. But, sadly, the story itself is hardly unique. There are countless incidents like this one where men who claim to be serving God use that as cover or justification for abuse.

The irony is that Thornton has given interviews where he talks about how, when he was famous, “I used marijuana and alcohol but my real vice was girls.” And yet his worst behavior wasn’t connected to any of that. It was only after he claimed to be a devout Christian that his actions began to harm other people in a way that they still feel the effects of it decades later.

That’s why his daughter exposing what was happening behind the scenes is so important. She’s destroying the myth that a pop star who “finds God” and becomes religious becomes an inherently better person. If anything, Thornton went in the other direction.

Thornton himself hasn’t responded to the accusations, and he deactivated his Instagram page.

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