Deryck Whibley has accused Sum 41‘s first and former manager of physical and verbal abuse. According to claims outlined in Whibley’s new memoir, “Walking Disaster, My Life Through Heaven and Hell,” the frontman was groomed and sexually and verbally abused by Greig Nori during the first stages of Sum 41’s career.
Whibley alleges the abuse started when he was 16 and Nori was 34. Nori (also a frontman for Canadian punk band Treble Charger) began collaborating with Sum 41 as a co-writer and co-producer, and later joined as an official manager of the band.
“Greig had one requirement to be our manager — he wanted total control,” Whibley writes in the memoir, per a Los Angeles Times report. “We couldn’t talk to anyone but him, because the music business is ‘full of snakes and liars’ and he was the only person we could trust.”
Whibley relays the first instances where he and Nori spent time alone together, alleging that Nori was the first person to serve him alcohol. He writes, Nori once asked him to come to follow him to a bathroom to do ecstasy, and whilst in the bathroom, Nori allegedly grabbed Whibley’s face and “passionately” kissed him without consent. Nori essentially told him, “[Whibley] brought it out in him because what [they] had was so special,” according the report.
Whibley also writes of his failed attempts to shut down any sexual relationship with the former manager. He recalls Nori labeling as homophobic in response. In the memoir, Whibley states the sexual encounters ended after a mutual friend of his and Nori’s found out what he had been through. He also writes of the moment his former wife, Avril Lavigne, found out about these experiences, with Lavigne allegedly telling Whibley, “That’s abuse! He sexually abused you.”
Nori did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Whibley said of his memoir and the allegations, “Once I get to that Greig Nori stuff, I was like ‘Do I talk about this?’ But how could I not? It’s so intertwined with everything for seven years. I would be lying if I didn’t.”
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