Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley claims sexual abuse by former manager.
Deryck Whibley, the lead singer of Sum 41, has revealed that his former manager “groomed” him and “pressured” him into a sexual relationship. In his upcoming memoir, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, set to release on Tuesday, October 8, the punk rocker accuses Greig Nori, the lead of the Canadian band Treble Charger, of both sexual and verbal abuse throughout the years.
The two, who had a “special connection” creatively, first crossed paths when Whibley was just 16 and Nori was 34, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. Whibley recounts meeting Nori backstage at a Treble Charger concert, where Nori handed him his phone number and invited him to one of his band’s shows.
Nori allegedly took on a mentorship role, spending hours on the phone with Whibley. Whibley also mentions that Nori introduced him and his bandmate Steveo to drinking, starting with “Goldschläger shots.”
Nori eventually took on the role of manager for Sum 41, overseeing their music production, helping them build connections in the industry, and inviting them to various parties and raves. In his book, the “In Too Deep” artist shares, “Greig had one condition to be our manager — he demanded complete control. We were only allowed to communicate with him because the music industry is ‘full of snakes and liars,’ and he was the only one we could trust.”
Whibley recounts an incident where Nori supposedly “passionately” kissed him in a bathroom during a night out when he was just 18. At that moment, Whibley felt confused and shocked, as he had never been attracted to men before. He also mentions that Nori attempted to persuade him to explore their connection further by highlighting that many rock stars are “queer” and that “most people are bisexual; they’re just too scared to admit it.”
“He was so persistent and convincing that eventually, I began to think maybe he had a point,” Whibley writes. Although Nori claimed he had never felt same-sex attraction before, he allegedly stated that Whibley “brought it out in him because what we had was so unique.”
After exploring his sexuality for a few months, Whibley decided he wanted to put an end to their physical relationship. However, Nori reportedly reacted with anger, accusing him of being “homophobic” when he attempted to break things off. Whibley recalls, “He claimed it was all my fault from the start because I should never have agreed to it. I initiated this, and now he was involved too, so I felt like I couldn’t just walk away.”
For a long time, Whibley kept his supposed relationship with Nori private, but he eventually confided in a mutual friend who described his experience with Nori as “abuse.” He later shared details of the alleged sexual abuse with his then-girlfriend, now ex-wife, Avril Lavigne, whom he was married to from 2006 to 2009. Whibley remembers her reaction in the book: “That’s abuse! He sexually abused you.” He also discussed the situation with his current wife, Ariana Cooper, with whom he has been married for a decade, and she had a similar response.
“He groomed you from a young age and mentally coerced you. You said no, you didn’t want to continue, and he insisted it had to go on or you would lose everything. That’s psychological, mental, and physical abuse,” Whibley recounts Cooper saying.
Whibley asserts that even though the supposed physical confrontations ceased, the verbal mistreatment intensified as his jealousy over Sum 41’s achievements grew, leading him to attempt to create rifts among the band members. In 2004, it is claimed that Sum 41 let him go.