Country Rap’s Mikel Knight Loses Civil Case, Ruled to Pay $20 million
Country rap artist Mikel Knight who calls himself the “Country Rap King” lost a wrongful death civil suit in Nashville’s Davidson County Circuit Court on Friday (10-21), and a jury has awarded the mothers of two deceased individuals who previously worked for Mikel Knight a total of $20,718,575.20 in compensatory and punitive damages.
Taylor Robert Nixon and Robert Joseph Underfinger III were both killed in a June 16th, 2014 accident in Donley County, Texas while working for Mikel Knight. They were passengers in a 2005 Chevy van when it veered off the road after overcorrecting and losing control, and rolled several times before coming to a stop. The manager of the Mikel Knight street team and one other individual were also injured in the incident.
The Estate of Robert Nixon represented by his mother Shannon Baseman, and the Estate of Robert Joseph Underfinger III represented by his mother Donna Taylor, sued Mikel Knight, whose real name is Jason Cross, as well his companies and others involved in the accident. The families spent eight years attempting to pursue justice and restitution against Mikel Knight, including dealing with numerous delays over the last few years as Knight kept changing attorneys, and postponing the legal process. Eventually the judge set the trial date of Monday October 17th, and Mikel Knight chose to represent himself in this week’s trial.
The prosecution and defense rested their cases on Thursday (10-21), and the jury began to deliberate the case on Thursday before breaking for the evening and reconvening on Friday. The jury ultimately awarded $5.7 million in compensatory damages to Shannon Baseman and Donna Taylor. The jury also checked the box “yes” that they felt Mikel Knight had engaged in gross negligence, allowing the jury to award punitive damages as well.
During the punitive damages phase of the trial, Mikel Knight complained that he had been feeling sick all week, and wanted to go home. According to Knight, he had been staying in an AirBNB in Nashville with his family for the week. The judge cautioned Mikel Knight to remain in the courtroom until the punitive stage of the trial was finished, but he ultimately left. After the prosecution gave a short presentation on the punitive damages, the jury deliberated further and came back with another $15 million in damages.
According attorney Tracy Cary of Birmingham, AL who represented the two mothers, there are caps on damage amounts, and those numbers are likely to be reduced. For his part, Mikel Knight says he has no money, and will not be able to pay. He also signaled his intention to appeal the case. Knight also claims he no longer lives in Tennessee, and instead now resides in Palm City, Florida. He also claims to be “semi-retired,” and operates a jeans and printing business.
“The moms felt vindicated, that their story got told,” attorney Tracy Cary tells Saving Country Music. Attorney Joey Morris, as well as Nashville local attorney Will Hicky also helped to represent the mothers of Robert Nixon and Robert Underfinger.
The legal issues for Mikel Knight are not finished. Another previous worker for the Mikel Knight Street Team, Ky Rodgers, has a trial set to begin on Monday, October 31st. At one point, the Ky Rodgers case had been combined with the case of Robert Nixon and Robert Underfinger, but the judge severed the two cases to be heard separately.
Along with the harrowing stories of working long hours selling CDs face to face, witnessing fellow street team members being physically assaulted and sometimes left in remote towns for poor sales performance, and others not getting paid for their work, the account of Ky Rodgers about working on a Mikel Knight street team ended when the van he was riding in fell off a 3-story cliff in Utah and he was severely injured. Ky Rodgers had to be CareFlighted to a hospital from the crash scene. He’d broken his L2, L3, and L4 vertebrae, pelvis, sacrum, and was in the hospital for a week. Rodgers was left with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.
The Ky Rodgers account of his time employed on one of Mikel Knight’s street teams soon went viral, and would continuously get reshared as street teams traveled to locations across the United States to sell Mikel Knight CDs in decal wrapped motorhomes and vans. It became the basis of the Saving Country Music investigation, The Sound of Deception, Country Rap’s Mikel Knight & His Notorious Street Teams, which uncovered a history of violent and criminal behavior from Mikel Knight.
The saga of Mikel Night and his street teams became a national narrative in 2015, with Gawker publishing an extensive dive into the story, and Vice making Mikel Night a significant part of a documentary on Nashville, overlapping when Mikel Knight street steams were still traveling across the country and selling CDs face to face. Knight reportedly has sold more than 5 million albums, including many by hand. The operation appears to have ceased in recent years. Though Mikel Knight rarely performed live, he’s collaborated recently with other well-known country rappers such as Upchurch, as well as Jelly Roll, who is currently signed to BBR.
October 21, 2022 @ 7:18 pm
I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out how this guy is somehow held responsible for these people’s deaths. He wasn’t driving I don’t think. It just seems like bad luck to me. I guess I’m not seeing the facts here or I’m missing something but just seems silly on the face of it.
October 21, 2022 @ 8:01 pm
Boss man bad
October 21, 2022 @ 8:42 pm
A jury of Mikel Knight’s peers after a week-long trial where evidence was presented, witnesses testified, and a defense was given its chance to answer all accusations came to the unanimous decision that Mikel Knight was legally liable in the death of his two street team members.
This has been a very frustrating situation to report on. The reason my initial report/investigation into Mikel Knight was a 30-paragraph treatise with images, graphs, and outside reports is because that is really the only way to tell this story. I have tried to not be redundant and bury the lede each time there is a development by going too in-dept into the back story. But I believe anyone who has read this story in depth, read the testimonials of street team members, and seen the lengths Mikel Knight has gone to in order to protect himself and intimidate others, including suing Facebook and hiring a private investigator to trail yours truly for a week would be less inclined to question why Mikel Knight was legally found liable in these deaths.
No, he was not driving the van that crashed. But for years, Mikel Knight created and presided over a work environment where if street team members didn’t make sales goals, they would allegedly be threatened, beaten, abandoned on the side of the road in some small town in middle American with no money and 1,000 miles from their home, or worse. Street teams were pushed to the point of absolute exhaustion to make sales goals, which resulted in multiple accidents, and deaths. Dozens of street team members have come forward telling harrowing stories of the treatment and working conditions. Ky Rodgers, whose trial is next, is the one that helped expose this situation to the rest of the world, then we learned about these two individuals being killed.
I was not there when the accident occurred, so I cannot speak personally about what happened. But having reported on this story for over six years now, I most certainly do not find this verdict surprising. It was inevitable when presented with the evidence that is public facing, let alone everything the jury saw.
There is an extremely strange disconnect with this story. In 2016-2017, it was literally one of the biggest stories in all of country music. There has been such a turnover in SCM readership, and such a weird shift in culture, nobody seems to care now, or they somehow think the victims are the true aggressors. I can’t even post a story about how this guy has been found liable in the deaths of two people without being accused by a dozen people on Facebook for “promoting country rap.” Mikel Knight successfully stalled the legal process for years to his benefit. That created enough time for people to forget all the reports, accusations, arrests, and incidents that plagued his street team activity.
And like so many other truly important stories in country music, this one is being summarily ignored by the rest of the media. This is a $20 million jury settlement, and the person who is being attacked is myself for reporting on it. The media let these families and street team members down by not exposing the risks people were facing joining Mikel Knight’s street teams sooner. Now, country media is more concerned about what Jason Aldean’s wife is posting on her Instagram account as opposed to a situation like this. This first scandal was Mikel Knight. The second scandal is why the media is ignoring this story.
Two young men are dead, and their mothers finally got some closure. As far as I’m concerned, this is the most important thing I have ever reported on in 15 years.
October 21, 2022 @ 8:57 pm
Also, if you’re not convinced of the seriousness of this issue, then perhaps read the investigation Gawker also did:
https://www.gawker.com/driving-and-dying-in-the-service-of-the-country-rap-kin-1751698239
December 3, 2023 @ 9:01 pm
I met one of his teams in Illinois. I bought both cds and listened to them daily. The young fellas seemed very happy when I met them and talked fondly of the singer. Iam so sorry for this horrible loss. I was unaware of this story until just now when I was wondering why I hadnt heard about him lately. Such a tragedy. I was seud for a wrongful death, but they made the mistake of bringing me his medical chart from where I worked and his autopsy. I proved my own innocense. I will not judge this man and wish them all the best. So sorry those moms lost their babies and the other man was hurt .
February 23, 2024 @ 2:37 am
Thank you for the additional details. You’re awesome and this dude is a monster. So, if he and Upchurch hang out, why did this POS make a diss track on him and Tom McDonald? Were they the only names he thought would get attention so he could ultimately earn money for his extremely subpar attempt at music to pay the families back? He seems more like the type that would stay broke forever out of spite…. Pure speculation, though….
October 21, 2022 @ 11:58 pm
Trig,
This might be a good time to hit your knee’s on the bedroom floor, put your elbows on the bed, & fold your hands.
Talk to God. REALLY talk to God.
You are in a precarious place, emotionally.
Talk to God.
Let it out. You need to decompress.
October 22, 2022 @ 8:44 am
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Slept like a baby last night.
October 22, 2022 @ 10:40 am
: D Well, that’s good to know!
Glad you had a good sleep.
October 8, 2023 @ 8:46 pm
So we just ran into Mr. Cross in statesboro georgia who sold us CDs for 30 bucks!!!!! In a wrapped van too…bwahahahaha his cashapp was his actual name!!
October 22, 2022 @ 8:10 am
This isn’t modern day slavery. They could have just walked off and left.
Also this seems like a situation of a country music journalist trying to throw himself in the middle of the story.
October 22, 2022 @ 8:38 am
I don’t recall calling this “modern day slavery.” Yes, the street team members “could have walked away,” just like someone who gets their arm ripped off in a piece of faulty machinery “could have walked away” right before the accident occurred. That doesn’t mean whoever was responsible for creating the conditions that led to the injury/death are not legally liable. Also, it’s hard to “walk away” from a moving van. The two young men were asleep in the back when the accident occurred.
Not sure how I’m trying to throw myself in the middle of a story, but I do find it perplexing that so many people are rushing to defend a man that jury unanimously decided was at fault in the situation. If you had been in that court room all week, saw all the evidence, listened to all of the testimony, you likely would have come to the same conclusion. When I was reporting on this story in 2016-2017, I rarely if ever saw anyone question if Mikel Knight was a scoundrel, and dangerous. Now, people have been so conditioned to believe after #metoo and other stuff that the alleged victims are the true aggressors, and the accused are the true victims, people will come to the defense of a multi-time convicted felon with a laundry list of assault and fraud charges against him singing bad country rap who has just been found liable by a jury of his peers over the grieving mothers of dead young men. Strange times.
October 22, 2022 @ 12:23 pm
Strange times indeed. Strange (and sad) that I don’t give a shit what Gawker or any other outlet has to say about anything anymore. From what I’ve read it seems likely he created poor conditions that possibly led to these deaths, and if the jury found that then so be it. But you were alluding to his guilt before the trial even began because it fits a narrative, and because he sings “bad country rap.”
October 22, 2022 @ 1:14 pm
I said multiple times before the trial that he is innocent until proven guilty, and his culpability is for a jury to decide. The jury has now decided that, and for some reason, some don’t want to accept that judgement. Based off of surface-level knowledge of the situation, they’re now ready to implicate myself, the court and jury system, and the mothers who had to bury their dead children as the ones with questionable motivations here. I didn’t say anything about “bad country rap” before the trial. I simply find it curious how multiple people now are coming to the defense of this guy even in the face of overwhelming evidence and a unanimous jury decision on a traditional country music website.
December 9, 2022 @ 4:00 pm
Dear , Trigger
Did you ever find out why country media is trying to sweep this story under the rug ? I also watched the “Vice ” episode on that douche bag and how he treated his employees. It’s sad to hear that this didn’t get more attention on it , and it’s also retarded how disrespectful Mr. Knight is to just about everyone he meets or doesn’t agree with him or his way of doing things . I really hope that with this law suit that the mothers of the two individuals get the money that was awarded to them , but with him saying he has no money it gives you the feeling that he will try his hardest to screw them out of the payment and payback due them , even though no amount of money is going to give those women their sons back . My opinion I believe Mr. Knight should serve a nice little sentence in jail . But just justice doesn’t always work the way it should .
December 9, 2022 @ 4:09 pm
I really don’t have a good answer as to why the media, especially in Nashville, would not report on a $20 million settlement. There was one or two other reports on it, but not nearly the media coverage it deserved. That said, this has been a weird case to cover. It took so long for this trial to move forward, and even the people who knew about this situation forgot about it. I actually have an update about the Ky Rodgers trial that was supposed to happen in October I am just now finishing up. It took me six weeks to get everything in order on that.
I consider this an ongoing story, with a big question on whether Mikel Knight will ever pay anything. I’m sure he will appeal.
July 22, 2023 @ 9:05 am
I love country every thing about it, and this is silly of what everyone is talking about if it’s not his fault then why is people fighting to get rid of his songs, but it looks like he still trying to sell his album in my town, but it’s hard to buy stuff when there’s trouble in money to buy. So his doing good so far.
October 22, 2022 @ 9:33 am
He was responsible for running a “business” that prioritized selling CDs in parking lots above all else. He created a situation where his “employees” felt compelled to push the envelope and take risks. It’s really easy to say “they should have just quit”, but when you’re 20 years old, 1200 miles from home, with no money in your pocket, that’s easier said than done. When you own a business, you assume responsibilities beyond making yourself money. If you choose to run your business like a street-level narcotics dealer would, you deserve to be held accountable.
November 24, 2022 @ 5:41 am
I’m actually quite familiar with this case. The street team was supposed to stop at a motel the night before to sleep and would have to be up by 7am. But unfortunately, as young adults will do, they decided to throw caution to the wind and go out partying at a bar until the wee hours of the morning instead of getting the required (and lawful) amount of sleep. There is even GPS data showing their whereabouts the night before. The DRIVER of this van is completely negligent since he willfully chose not to get a full sleep the night before and fell asleep at the wheel. He should be tried and convicted of manslaughter. This case has been clouded by this artist’s treatment of his employees. But last I checked this artist is not on trial for treatment of employees. It’s to see whether he is negligent as far as these deaths are concerned. After speaking to a couple former employees, this harsh treatment towards employees was only after catching them stealing sales money several times. He then left these employees who he had just fired in whatever town they were in at the time. I guess we couldn’t expect him to give them courtesy rides cross-country back home after they were just stealing from you and fired, right? Is that harsh? You decide. It’s always good to have the inside facts as well as the facts that are common public record. From the writers replies below, it almost sounds like he has a personal vendetta against this artist and the Country Rap music genre as a whole. This can lead to misleading interpretations of facts.
July 1, 2024 @ 12:54 pm
I just met him last night in Palm City. He was trying to sell his CD’s at Wawa. Seemed like a nice enough guy.
October 21, 2022 @ 9:59 pm
This is not like Alex Jones, who actually has a huge source of income from the advertisements and the supplements and other health aids that he hawks on his radio show or podcasts.
It doesn’t matter how many young or other people Mikel Knight and exploited. He can send all the vans and “street teams” he wants to however many towns with people pushing and trying to sell his CD’s one at a time–and they’re not going to do much better than break even on gas money, car repairs, and food that they eat.
That judgment along with a ten dollar bill might get the parents a decent meal at McDonald’s.
I don’t know if that gives them “closure.”
October 21, 2022 @ 10:39 pm
You’re completely right that it’s very unlikely Mikel Knight will be able to pay the plaintiffs off in full. Alex Jones won’t be able to either.
But I can attest first hand that this judgement most definitely will go a long way to giving the mothers of the deceased young men closure. In many respects that’s the entire point, not the money.
October 22, 2022 @ 12:16 pm
The Sandy Hook parents are now seeking 2.75 trillion from Alex Jones. (A 10th of the national GDP) This isn’t about closure. It’s terrible what happened to the kids but Alex Jones didn’t murder them himself and he’s in no way responsible for their deaths.
We are headed down dangerous path societal if kangaroo courts free from the constraints of actual law are able to enact these wild judgements with the sole moral reasoning of “giving closure.”
And Kanye is being sued for 250 million because he made a statement based on the toxology reports of George Floyd’s death that detailed how he had a lethal cocktail of drugs in his system. Kanye was expressing an opinion he quoted from a documentary he watched. I’m not aware of a legal statute that says you can defame a dead man.
October 22, 2022 @ 1:03 pm
I’m sorry if you think the cases/judgements against Alex Jones and Kanye West are unfounded or out-of-control. That has nothing to do with anything here, except to illustrate how some are so obsessed with “Cancel Culture,” they’re willing to overlook basic morals and start defending clearly liable parties for their actions.
October 21, 2022 @ 10:44 pm
Who?
October 22, 2022 @ 4:18 am
Well I guess I never read your original reporting on it which is why I was having trouble understanding what all this street team stuff was all about. Rather confusing to me. Whether or not I agree with the verdict still, I don’t know. True he seems like a bad character but this seems like one of those jobs if you want to call it that, that would easily be replaced by another one. Obviously I could see some fines for bad labor practices and maybe taking away his ability to have that kind of business but to hold him accountable for their deaths I’m just not sure. If that’s the case, the ceos and managers of a lot of factories should be held responsible for people dying of heart attacks or other issues because of job stress cause of how they are expected to work and get out numbers, usually just made up numbers to influence stock conditions and investers. I feel the same about the sandy hook guy. Yea he is probably a sleazeball but he didn’t kill those kids. Their parents knew the kids were dead and that it actually happened. Again maybe I’m missing some key component that would change my thinking and the jury obviously wasn’t missing it but oh well. Either way, it’s sad to see people die in these cases.
October 22, 2022 @ 8:16 am
Alex Jones did not cause those kids to die, but he did cause the parents of those kids to get death threats, ruined their lives, and were forced to move, from getting harassed by his stone age brain dead right wing followers, when he said the shooting was not real, he said the shootings were faked by the liberal media, and the parents,, It caused the families so much pain because losers like him want FREEDUMB OF SPEECH, but there is still a thing called libel, look it up, you cannot falsely accuse someone of a lie, and that lie causes harm to them. Alex Jones is scum and got everything he deserved. Sorry conservatives, you DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO LIE, AND CAUSE HARM To someone. When you use your precious FREEDUMB of speech to hurt people, then there are CONSEQUENCES, as for the rapper, I agree with trigger, don’t know if he has the money to pay this, but I hope the families can through this difficult time.
October 22, 2022 @ 12:42 pm
” … harassed by his stone age brain dead right wing followers …”
Political, much?
Not to mention this totally absurd statement.
February 23, 2024 @ 2:56 am
That wasn’t the only absurd statement made by that dude. Smh, good call though, but there were many more that could be added to your list. I guess monkeys with a thesaurus and the ability to parrot BS also fall under the protection of the first amendment. Which is respected as a right, just as my personal opinion also falls under that amendment. But yeehaw, I’m “libel” to say sumpin real mean if I don’t hurry up and shut my pie hole. Dem folks up yonder talking ’bout suing fer libel so I best just go on….. ???? Eye roll. I do think some people should be subject for prior post approval before they are allowed to hit the send button though….. Thanks for letting me vent ????????????????
October 22, 2022 @ 1:27 am
I very much you report incidents like this as it might save a future going life. In all.forms of business, not just music, there are predatory people like Mikel Knight who promise young people the moon only to use and often abuse them draining their pockets books. & in this horribly case taking their lives. I love that you always give an honest look at the world of country music.
October 22, 2022 @ 2:24 am
Good.
Even if it gets reduced, and obviously can’t bring back the people who died, it still sends a clear message to anyone else who might be trying anything like it.
This judgement will potentially save the lives of others, and also might stop agressive selling of shitty music.
October 22, 2022 @ 5:12 am
Still can’t wrap my mind around the situation and what happened or this guy’s music either. So bizarre in so many ways. All-around WTF?
October 22, 2022 @ 7:16 am
He chose to represent himself. That gives you a little insight into his hubris. Did he enter the chambers in a boxing robe with Bawitdaba playing?
October 22, 2022 @ 7:41 am
Everybody who loses a civil suit says they’re going to appeal, but not many actually do. And of those who do appeal, not many win. If there are any members of the Tennessee bar here, they can correct me if I’m wrong, but to appeal, Knight will have to file an appeal bond. If his appeal is denied, he also owes the plaintiffs any interest that accrued on the original monetary judgment. On $20 million, that won’t be inconsequential. And with the backlogs many courts are experiencing, an appeal can remain pending for quite some time, so the interest increases.
Instead, most smart losers go to the plaintiffs and say, “If you settle for X amount instead of Y, I won’t put you through the hassle/heartache/wait of an appeal and you’ll get X amount in your bank by the end of business tomorrow.” Two things here, though: Nobody has accused Knight of being smart, and there’s no indication he even has X amount to offer, unless he was carrying insurance of some sort.
Bottom line: While it is a moral and legal victory for the plaintiffs, it’s probably not going to be a big payday.
October 22, 2022 @ 8:04 am
Putting aside any disdain for Country Rap douche bags, I’m failing to see how a 20 million dollar civil suit ruling is fair when he isn’t directly responsible for their deaths. At worst he’s indirectly responsible for working conditions which influenced the driving drowsy by someone else. People who literally shoot someone in the face aren’t ordered to pay 20 million.
October 22, 2022 @ 8:26 am
The ruling isn’t just against Mikel Knight. It is against his companies. If any company is found to have created working conditions that result in injury or death of their employees, then that company can be held liable. A jury of Mikel Knight’s peers unanimously concluded that Mikel Knight’s actions with the way he ran his street teams led to the death of these two young men. We see similar cases every single day.
“People who literally shoot someone in the face aren’t ordered to pay 20 million.”
No, they’re charged with murder, or attempted murder, and if found guilty, they go to prison. I covered the death of Wayne Mills that was tried in this same court house. He was shot in the back of the head. Chris Ferrell is now serving 20 years in prison.
This is not a criminal case, it is a civil case. A civil case comes about when criminal charges do not resolve the issue. Think of OJ Simpson. He was charged with murder, and was found innocent. So the families sued him in a civil case, and won a judgement of millions of dollars against him.
October 22, 2022 @ 9:18 am
Also, since we’re talking about criminal vs. civil:
My investigation into Mikel Knight in 2015 turned up 20 separate court cases against him in Davidson County, Tennessee (Nashville), including multiple felony assault cases.
I also found eight separate cases against him in Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio) where he is originally from. Here were the charges:
02/18/1995 – Attempted Robbery (felony – received 10 years probation)
02/19/1996 – Assault with a Deadly Weapon (felony)
03/16/1996 – Assault with Bodily Injury
05/16/1998 – Assault with Bodily Injury
09/2/1998 – Driving with Suspended License
09/7/1998 – Assault with Bodily Injury
09/07/1999 – Assault with Bodily Injury
05/27/2006 – Assault with Bodily Injury (Pending, warrant issued for his arrest)
Not sure if it’s still pending, but at the time of my investigation, he was still wanted in Texas on the 2006 Assault charge, and one of the reasons it’s believed he moved to Tennessee is Tennessee will not extradite someone on that charge.
October 22, 2022 @ 12:06 pm
Nothing about the OJ situation should be a precedent.
I do not see how the previous cases listed here factor into the civil suit that was over a singular incident where there was death and injury. It seems fishy to me that a person can be found innocent in a criminal court, but a civil court which isn’t bound by the same legal standards has the power to financially bankrupt a person. It’s as if the civil courts are now used as a sort of cancel culture/Mob rule justice branch.
October 22, 2022 @ 1:00 pm
“It’s as if the civil courts are now used as a sort of cancel culture/Mob rule justice branch. “
See, this is how your reaction is more tied to present-day social biases as opposed to a sworn-in jury unanimously coming to a conclusion after seeing all the evidence while being presided over by a judge. If this trial had taken place in 2018 like it should have, “cancel culture” would not have even been part of common parlance. Just as diseased as cancel culture is, so is the backlash that some have to cancel culture where they will presume that the mothers of dead sons are likely the true aggressors, and a multi-time convicted felon is the true victim. This is really a very dangerous, hurtful, and irresponsible assumption you’re making.
February 23, 2024 @ 3:03 am
Dang and that’s just what he was convicted of at that time. He seems to know how to work the system so who knows how many cases he has weaseled out of taking responsibility for. Who knows how many violent encounters he’s actually culpable for….. Smh. Mikel should be changed to “might-kill”…..
October 22, 2022 @ 8:45 am
Have hope, my friends. When I take power, all Rap will be illegal.
October 22, 2022 @ 9:06 am
” At worst he’s indirectly responsible for working conditions which influenced the driving drowsy by someone else.”
No, he’s DIRECTLY responsible for those working conditions. When you’re the owner of a business, YOU are directly responsible for those working conditions. If, for example, you run a slipshod saw mill with lax safety practices, and one of your employees lops off some fingers, YOU are responsible for the practices and the culture that led to that injury. This hick-hop weirdo was essentially running a bait & switch operation, where he promised prospective employees a job, which turned out to be something quite different. And, whether he’d ever admit it or not, he was preying on the disadvantaged, young, and gullible, people who simply didn’t understand or know any better. Running his operation the way he did enabled him to dodge and duck the responsibilities a business owner takes on when they start that business.
October 22, 2022 @ 9:36 am
All good points, and what you miss when you just breeze through this story. Perhaps you have to tell the whole story in its entirely whenever you give an update.
Ky Rodgers, who was the former street team member who blew this whole thing open, he was supposedly hired on to be a musician in Mikel Knight’s band. Rodgers is a musician, and has released music subsequently. A lot of the testimonials from former street team members are about how they were hired on to be performers on a Mikel Knight tour. But of course, Mikel Knight never performed, or toured. That was one of the knocks on him. He finally performed one show, and that was it. A lot of these kids were lured into these vans with promises of “going on tour.”
October 22, 2022 @ 12:19 pm
wrong. A company is liable if someone lops off a finger, but if someone grabs the arm of another and cuts of their finger for them that is a different level of offense.
Mike didnt drive the vehicle off the road.
Being emotionally involved in this issue does not mean words lose their meaning.
October 22, 2022 @ 11:55 am
Thank you so much for covering this case. In the beginning, I was the only person willing to risk my life and take a stand for these boys and their mothers. It has been an honor standing beside these women through all of this. I would recommend to the audience here that you do a little research yourself before commenting. It is sickening the information that is out there and how long they have been trying to throw this under the rug. I still fear for mine and my families lives as we travel back to Nashville for my part of this lawsuit, beginning Oct 31.
October 22, 2022 @ 12:08 pm
Also Jelly Roll and Upchurch are innocent here, why are they tagged? Guilt by association?
(I shouldnt even have to offer up the fact that I am not a fan of either)
October 22, 2022 @ 12:56 pm
It’s a witch hunt, & you Trigger are carrying the gas can & the matches.
October 22, 2022 @ 1:21 pm
How dare you accused me of a “witch hunt.” In 7,500 articles posted, and over 300,000 comments on this site, I have never been insulted more by a single comment, nor have I ever been more embarrassed by the offensive, off base, and uninformed opinions that have been left here.
Taylor Robert Nixon and Robert Joseph Underfinger III are dead. Their grieving mothers, Shannon Baseman and Donna Taylor have been spending years attempting to receive some semblance of closure, some semblance of justice for their deaths, and finally have. And it makes me sick to my stomach to think they may happen upon this comments section, and see people accusing them of a “witch hunt.” What a sick, cold-hearted, and beyond unconscionable assessment of this situation.
Seeing comments like this have shaken me to my very core about the future of the human race. Wow.
October 22, 2022 @ 1:22 pm
Comments closed.
December 2, 2022 @ 6:38 am
Man I was hired to wrap the vans and rvs Mikel knight is a coward. He had one time to call me a boy! I grew up in the streets. When he called my phone we’re in two separate buildings he told me if I didn’t produce $2100 but that night I need to get my family and get the fuck out a house I was renting from him. I didn’t owe him money in fact the money in question would come from contracts I acquired reason being a month earlier I was asked to drive a rv across country ( I wasn’t a street team member or manager I was there to strictly wrap vehicles) I got arrested in Colorado for suspended license. At the time my monthly salary was $4500 for wrapping I worked 8-8 everyday $1500 was for rent and the $3k was in my pocket. My bond was $1000 which he raised hell about paying and said he could pay me anymore because the arrest. That’s when I started really questioning what was going on I had relocated from Atlanta with my girl and : kids he agreed rent was still on him but I need to make use of the printers he bought to generate my own income and we would spilt the money made 50/50 & in 26 days I had $19k in contracts. I was to complete a job for a client that evening and was to collect said $2100. Not sure what he was upset about that day but the lawsuits was going on he came at me via phone yelling telling me I need to have that money because I hadn’t brought any money in two days lol. I’m a grown man and watched how he did them lil dudes I told Mike to his face on a couple occasions I ain’t to be played with! But he knew that! I’m 6’3 220. So on that phone call I told buddy “ I don’t know who you talking to but it’s whatever!! Two minutes later his punk boys aka enforcers ran to my building and asked me what I said over the phone because Mikel knight had hung the phone up and had fit throwing things and wrecking the office! My response was “ he know not to see me with that same energy!” I haven’t seen dude once in the flesh after that call. Yes I still lived in the house own by his wife which is the only person I seen beat up by him she stayed in the battered box! My girl would hang out with her and tell me all the bull he was on! So yeah 3days after the blow up and me refusing to return for work he sent fat tomi and the “goon squad” to put me and my family out physically they 5 deep to put me my girl and kids out by force! Not happening! My girl called 911 and we all waiting for the police . They arrived guns drawn and made us all get on our hands and knees in the front yard keep in mind we weren’t dressed it’s 9:30pm my kids have guns in there faces! I looked at fat Tomi while we both in hand cuffs and told him the next time we meet… his wife pulled up and claim it to be a shared house by the label and they could come and go as they please. I pull the sheriff to the side and explained I had two teenage daughters and wouldn’t ever agree to that. This was a family home I rent from them I showed them all the bills in my name for the past 6 months. We of course were aloud to stay and they would have to evict and they aren’t allowed to return to the property! I stayed a week and moved but not far my kids had school so I couldn’t leave plus dude is a coward and I’m not running. I left my heat press at his shop and wanted it back so I arrange for fat tomi to meet me with it. I going with my move when I see him! He asked me to meet him at a gas station which was weird already plus he was taking forever he never showed but the police did and I was arrested for theft. Instead of meeting me. Him and Mike drove to the police station and put a warrant out for me and told the police where I was waiting lol. It’s 10 pm I’m sitting in a cell and someone from the county heard what just happened got out of bed and got me released I was in jail 45 minutes! I said I haven’t seen these boys yet! They didn’t show up for court case got thrown out! This is universal Justice I watched dudes come off the road 3 months with families at home and dude would work em tell them the got fines for lack of sales you hit gas pump pole with the van lost a tshirt etc and send them home with $250 after these boys was expecting 3 6 or even 7k for the sales they made! And whoever writes this blog Mike hated you dude lol you was a daily topic! Lol good job bro!
June 10, 2023 @ 9:39 am
Just met him in Punta Gorda Florida didn’t know who he was bought some cds n went home and googled him
October 1, 2023 @ 1:16 pm
Don’t know what to type here,except why wasn’t Mikel Knight’s shady past vetted ? I know some dubious characters exist in Country and other genres,but why someone responsible for the demise of two individuals due to his choice to drive drunk is welcomed into Country is beyond the ken of this ol’ boy outlaw to understand.
February 22, 2024 @ 6:10 am
Just met him while pumping gas in Lakeland, FL trying to sell some CDs. He seemed like a cool enough fella. Still seems active as well advertising a new album.
February 23, 2024 @ 3:04 am
Dang and that’s just what he was convicted of at that time. He seems to know how to work the system so who knows how many cases he has weaseled out of taking responsibility for. Who knows how many violent encounters he’s actually culpable for….. Smh. Mikel should be changed to “might-kill”…..
March 21, 2024 @ 9:15 am
I just ran into Mikel Knight at the Gas Station in St. Augustine, FL. He was in a Duke Boyz Van selling CDs and t-shirts out the back of the truck. He came up to me and introduced himself. I had no clue who he was until today. So I was doing some research and came upon this article.