Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley alleges in a new memoir that he was groomed and sexually abused by the band’s former manager, Greig Nori, when he was a teenager and Nori was 30.
The claims, first reported in an article in the Los Angeles Timesappears in Whibley’s book. Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell. In it, Whibley writes that Nori kissed him without consent and instigated sexual encounters during Sum 41’s formative years in Ajax, Ont., and the early 2000s.
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 performs on stage at Brixton Academy, London, 2001.
Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images
Whibley never told his bandmates about the alleged abuse, and only confided in his then-partner Avril Lavigne and his current wife Ariana Cooper, who helped him understand the relationship between him and Nori as abusive. After years of reflecting and learning about the MeToo movement, Whibley told the LA Times that he realized he had been groomed.
“As excited as I am to share this open and honest memoir of my life story, I am equally terrified,” a post on the Add 41 Instagram page read.
Nori, a musician from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, denies the book’s claims as “false accusations.” he said the balloon and the mail who has hired a lawyer specializing in defamation.
Greig Nori (right) photographed with Ludacris (left) backstage at ‘Saturday Night Live’ on January 21, 2005.
Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic
The accusations
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In walking disasterWhibley describes first meeting Nori when he snuck backstage at a Treble Charger concert when he was 16. At the time, Whibley was in high school trying to make his musical dreams come true, and Nori, the leader of Treble Charger, was his hero.
Whibley invited Nori to one of Sum 41’s upcoming performances, sparking a mentorship that would eventually develop into Nori managing the band.
Greig Nori, lead singer of the rock band Treble Charger, cheers on the crowd as the band plays to more than 50,000 people celebrating Toronto’s new Dundas Square at its grand opening, Friday, May 30, 2003.
Tannis Toohey/Toronto Star via Getty Images
One night, when Whibley was 18, he and Nori were at a rave when the older musician asked Whibley to go to the bathroom to take ecstasy with him. Inside the bathroom, Whibley writes that Nori grabbed him and kissed him “passionately.”
Nori allegedly told the Sum 41 leader that the pair shared a “special” connection and that the relationship was worth exploring. Nori would have been about 36 years old then.
At the time, Whibley tried to ignore the encounter because Nori was a trusted figure in his life.
“It seemed like a cool experiment when I was high, but when I was sober, it seemed wrong,” Whibley writes. “Greig kept pushing for things to happen when we were together. I started to feel like I was being pressured to do something against my will. “It was a strange feeling because for the most part I completely trusted Greig and still thought he was a great human being, which made everything very confusing.”
Whibley writes that he attempted on numerous occasions to end the sexual aspect of their relationship, only to be accused of homophobia by Nori. The Treble Charger leader allegedly told Whibley that he “owed” him to help get Sum 41 off the ground.
A photograph of Sum 41 from a photo shoot in San Francisco on January 26, 2002.
Steve Jennings/WireImage
In 2004, Whibley began dating Lavigne, a Canadian pop-punk star, and shared what had happened between him and Nori.
“That’s abuse! He sexually abused you,” Lavigne told Whibley, according to the memoir. Lavigne and Whibley separated in 2009 after three years of marriage. Whibley’s current wife, Ariana Cooper, had a similar reaction when he told her, he said.
Eventually, Whibley says Nori stopped trying to pressure him into sexual encounters after a mutual friend found out about the relationship and said it was abusive. In 2005, Sum 41 fired Nori as director.
Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley in the audience during the 2007 American Music Awards held on November 18, 2007 in Los Angeles.
Kevin Winter/AMA/Getty Images
As Whibley grew older and eventually reached the age Nori was when they met, the leader of Sum 41 began to better understand the power imbalance in their relationship.
“Everything became very clear,” Whibley told the LA Times. “Then, about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories about self-care and it all started to make sense.”
In an interview with the toronto starWhibley said he is not worried about the memoir’s potential legal consequences.
“You can’t sue (someone) for telling the truth,” Whibley said. “If you want to challenge him, I appreciate it. Let’s go to court. Let’s put ourselves under oath. That would be great! I welcome that part…. Finally, let’s put it on the record!
Sum 41 is currently on tour for its final round of shows and has booked Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on January 30, 2025 as its final stop.
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