UPDATE 15/10/24
After Greig Nori denied the allegations, Deryck Whibley has now posted a further statement which you can watch below:
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Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley has put forward allegations of sexual abuse against the band’s former manager, Greig Nori, in his new memoir ‘Walking Disaster’.
Writing on the band’s social media account yesterday (October 07), he said “As excited as I am to share this open and honest memoir of my life story, I’m equally just as terrified” before linking to a new interview in the LA Times where he discusses the allegations further.
Nori, who is also the vocalist of the band Treble Charger, was Sum 41’s first manager. In the book, Whibley alleges a pattern of grooming and sexual abuse from Nori that took place over many years, beginning when he was a teenager. Nori was eventually fired in 2005 following the release of the album ‘Chuck’.
As the LA Times reports, “One night when he was 18 and intoxicated at a rave, Whibley writes, Nori asked him to come to the bathroom to drop another hit of ecstasy. Jammed together in the stall, Whibley writes, Nori grabbed his face and “passionately” kissed him. Whibley writes that he walked away stunned. He’d never thought of Nori like that before, and Nori reasoned that while he’d never experienced same-sex attraction before, “[Whibley] brought it out in him because what [they] had was so special,” according to the book.”
“As the weeks progressed, the book says, Nori tried to make the case to a disoriented Whibley that what they were doing was worth exploring because “so many of my rock star idols were queer. … Most people are bisexual; they’re just too afraid to admit it.” As Sum 41 grew in popularity, the band went on the road more and more. Whibley writes that he felt relief at the distance. Back home in Ajax, he writes that he attempted to end the physical encounters with Nori, as he ultimately didn’t identify as gay or bisexual. In the book, Nori grows irate in response, call Whibley homophobic and listing the myriad reasons Whibley “owed” him for helping his music career. Whibley writes how Nori would flip the script and accuse him of allowing the relationship to start.”
Whibley says that once he reached the age of 35, the same age Nori was when he first met him, he realised the power imbalance, saying “It all became so clear. Then about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories of grooming, and it all started to make sense.” He also says that his bandmates were never aware of his experiences with Nori and that he had only ever secretly confided in his current wife, Ariana Cooper, and his former partner Avril Lavigne.
LA Times has reached out to Nori who is yet to respond.
On Nori’s possible reaction, Whibley also tells the Toronto Star “You can’t sue [someone] for telling the truth. If he wants to challenge it, I welcome that. Let’s go to court. Let’s go under oath. That would be fucking great! I welcome that part. Let’s get into discovery. I’ll have my lawyers grill you. They can grill me all they want. I mean, that would be fucking perfect! Finally, let’s get it on record!”
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, help and support is available here.
