Pop group Color Me Badd has publicly distanced itself from co-founder Kevin Thornton after his estranged daughter accused him of running a physically and emotionally abusive, "cult-like" household disguised as strict Christian discipline. Mikayla Thornton, his youngest daughter, made the allegations in an interview with the YouTube series Soft White Underbelly, prompting the group's current lineup to issue a statement expressing support for her while stressing that Thornton has had no involvement in the band since 2016.

In her interview, Mikayla Thornton described being beaten with a stick called the "rod of correction" and with a physical Bible, and said her parents used fear and religious authority to control the household, which she likened to a cult. She also claimed Child Protective Services visited the family home multiple times after she was seen at school with bruises, and that her parents failed to intervene when she was sexually abused by other children. Since the interview's publication, Kevin Thornton has deactivated his Instagram account, while Color Me Badd's statement confirmed he left the group in 2016 following unrelated federal litigation and declined to comment further on the private allegations.