Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley says he was sexually assaulted by his former manager
The leader of Sum 41 Deryck Whibley alleges in 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 in his thirties.
The claims, first reported in an article in Los Angeles Timesappears in Whibley’s book Walking disaster: my life through heaven and hell. In it, Whibley writes that Nori kissed him without his consent and instigated sex during Sum 41’s formative years in Ajax, Ontario, and the early 2000s.
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 performs on stage at the Brixton Academy, London, 2001.
Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images
Whibley never told his bandmates about the alleged abuse and only confided in then-partner Avril Lavigne and his current wife, Ariana Cooper, who helped him understand that the relationship between him and Nori was abusive. After years of thinking and learning about the MeToo movement, Whibley told the LA Times 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,” said a post on the Sum 41 Instagram page bed.
Nori, a musician from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, denies the allegations in the book and calls them “false allegations.” He said the Globe and Mail that he retained the services of a lawyer specializing in defamation.
Greig Nori (right) pictured with Ludacris (left) backstage at “Saturday Night Live” on January 21, 2005.
Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic
The allegations
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In Walking disasterWhibley describes his first meeting with Nori when he snuck backstage at a Treble Charger concert when he was 16. At the time, Whibley was in high school trying to follow his musical dreams, and Treble Charger frontman Nori was his hero.
Whibley invited Nori to one of Sum 41’s next performances, sparking a mentorship that would eventually lead to Nori leading the group.
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 on its grand opening night, 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 come to the bathroom to have ecstasy with him. Inside the toilet, Whibley writes that Nori grabbed him and kissed him “passionately.”
Nori reportedly told the Sum 41 frontman that the couple shared a “special” connection and that the relationship was worth exploring. Nori would then be around 36 years old.
At the time, Whibley tried to ignore the encounter because Nori was a trusted figure in his life.
“It seemed like a cool experience when I was high, but when I was sober it seemed wrong,” Whibley writes. “Greig continued to push for things to happen when we were together. I started to feel like I was being forced to do something against my will. It was a strange feeling because for the most part I trusted Greig completely and still thought he was a great human being, which made it all so confusing.
Whibley writes that he repeatedly attempted to end the sexual aspect of their relationship, only to be accused of homophobia by Nori. The Treble Charger frontman reportedly told Whibley that he “owed” him for helping get Sum 41 off the ground.
A photo of Sum 41 during a photo shoot in San Francisco on January 26, 2002.
Steve Jennings/WireImage
In 2004, Whibley began dating Lavigne, another Canadian pop-punk star, and he shared what happened between him and Nori.
“It’s abuse!” He sexually assaulted 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 about it, he said.
Eventually, Whibley says Nori stopped trying to pressure him into sex after a mutual friend learned of the relationship and declared it abusive. In 2005, Sum 41 fired Nori as manager.
Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley in the audience at the 2007 American Music Awards, held on November 18, 2007 in Los Angeles.
Kevin Winter/AMA/Getty Images
As Whibley grew older, eventually reaching Nori’s age when they first met, the Sum 41 frontman 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 grooming stories and it all started to make sense.
In an interview with the Toronto StarWhibley said he is not worried about potential legal fallout from the memoir.
“You can’t sue (someone) for telling the truth,” Whibley said. “If he wants to challenge it, I’m happy to do so. Let’s go to court. Let’s go under oath. That would be really awesome! I’m looking forward to this part… Finally, let’s record it! »
The sum 41 is currently on tour its very last series of shows and have booked Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on January 30, 2025 as their final stop.
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