Deryck Whibley has broken his silence after his ex-manager Greig Nori denied his claims he sexually abused him starting when he was a teenager.
The Sum 41 star – who first made the allegations in new memoir Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, alleges Nori, now 62, and the frontman of Canadian punk band Treble Charger, groomed, manipulated and sexually abused him, starting when he was just 18 and Nori 36.
Whibley began working with Nori – the band’s first music manager when he was 16 in the late 1990s – and claimed that Nori encouraged him to take drugs before abusing him for the first time in a restroom at a rave.
Nori hit back at the allegations in a statement last week – saying the relationship was ‘consensual’ with Whibley – with the rocker now challenging Nori to take him to court and doubling down on his claims.
In an emotional social media video titled ‘So, I guess it has come to this…’ Whibley said: ‘I’m going to keep this brief, it’s been an extremely heavy week for me.
Deryck Whibley has broken his silence after his ex-manager Greig Nori denied his claims he sexually abused him starting when he was a teenager
The Sum 41 star – who first made the allegations in new memoir Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, alleges Nori, now 62 groomed, manipulated and sexually abused him, starting when he was just 18 and Nori 36 – pictured with Nori (L) in 2006
‘I have no regrets about coming out and saying what happened between me and my ex-manager, it was something that I couldn’t keep in anymore, I had to let it out.
‘It’s come to my attention that Greig Nori has now called me a liar. I tell you right now, I stand behind every word that’s in my book, 100%, I’m not a liar.
‘I’m gonna speak to you directly Greig Nori, if you think I’m a liar, there’s only one way to settle this – under oath, in front of a judge, in front of a jury, anytime you want, I’m ready whenever you are.
‘To everyone else, I just wanna thank you for all your love and support, my band my family, the fans, I appreciate the support, we’ll get through this like we get through everything else.’
Nori said in a statement to the Toronto Star on Thursday that Whibley had initiated their relationship – while denying any impropriety.
‘The accusation that I initiated the relationship is false. I did not initiate it. Whibley initiated it, aggressively.
Nori also denied that he ‘groomed’ Whibley, stating, ‘When the relationship began Whibley was an adult, as was I.’
Whibley said: ‘It’s come to my attention that Greig Nori has now called me a liar. I tell you right now, I stand behind every word that’s in my book, 100%, I’m not a liar’
Whibley challenged Nori to take him to court over the allegations
Nori alleges that that relationship between the two was ‘consensual’ and that it was Whibley who initiated it; Nori seen in 2012
‘The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship is false. The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship by accusing him of homophobia is false. Ultimately the relationship simply faded out. Consensually. Our business relationship continued.’
Whibley began working with Nori – the band’s first music manager when he was 16 in the late 1990s – and claims in his new memoir that Nori encouraged him to take drugs before abusing him for the first time in a restroom at a rave.
In excerpts obtained by the Los Angeles Times Whibley writes: ‘Greig had one requirement to be our manager — he wanted total control. 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.’
The musician alleges when he was aged 18 and ‘intoxicated at a rave’ Nori asked him to ‘come to the bathroom to drop another hit of ecstasy.’
He claims Nori then grabbed his face and ‘passionately’ kissed him – with Whibley walking away ‘stunned.’
He writes that he had ‘never’ thought of Nori like that and claims Nori told him while he had ‘never experienced same-sex attraction before, (Whibley) brought it out in him because what (they) had was so special.’
‘He was so relentless and convincing that after a while, I started to believe that maybe he was right’ Whibley writes.
Whibley’s book claims as weeks went by, Nori allegedly tried to convince him to explore their connection 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’s popularity grew they traveled more and more – with Whibley feeling ‘relieved’ at the distance between him and Nori.
Nori, the frontman of Canadian punk band Treble Charger, also denied that he ‘groomed’ Whibley, stating, ‘When the relationship began Whibley was an adult, as was I’
When he returned home to Ajax, Ontario Whibley also claims he attempted to end his physical relationship with Nori as he was not gay or bisexual.
In the book Whibley claims Nori called him ‘homophobic’ in response and listed reasons Whibley ‘owed him’ for his music career.
He writes: ‘He told me this was all my fault to begin with because I should never have said yes to it in the first place. I started this and now he was in it with me so I couldn’t just stop.’
He claims in the book that Nori finally stopped initiating sexual encounters with him when a mutual friend learned what had happened – with the unnamed friend telling Whibley and Nori their relationship was abuse.
Whibley said he had at first been in awe of Nori – who he first met when he sneaked backstage at a Treble Charger show and invited him to an early Sum 41 performance.
Nori gave the emerging star his number and before long they were speaking on the phone for hours and Nori was allegedly buying a still-underage Whibley and bandmate Steve Jocz shots of Goldschläger.
Whibley has spoken openly about his battle with alcohol addiction which started after the 2001 release of the band’s album, All Killer, No Filler. He constantly toured for more than a decade and drank heavily to cope.
He claims Nori controlled how often the band members could speak to their parents – telling The Times: ‘He tried to keep them away all the time. Now it makes more sense. Because he was the same age as our parents, and we didn’t know that at the time. He knew they would get suspicious of the way things were running. … He would always be like, “You can’t have a relationship with your parents and be in a rock band. It’s not cool. It’s going to hurt your career.”‘
Whibley writes that after their sexual relationship ended, Nori began abusing him verbally and psychologically.
Whibley claims in new memoir Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, that Nori groomed, manipulated and sexually abused him, starting when he was just 18 and Nori 36
Whibley is pictured with bandmates Steve Jocz, Jason McCaslin and Dave Baksh in 2003 – while still working with Nori
The In Too Deep hitmaker said he never told anyone – not even his bandmates – about the alleged sexual abuse, but did tell ex Avril Lavigne during their four year marriage from 2006-2010 – pictured 2007
He claimed that Nori would alternately praise him or berate him and turn the rest of the band against him by claiming he had ‘gone Hollywood’ due to his romance with Avril Lavigne.
The In Too Deep hitmaker said he never told anyone – not even his bandmates – about the alleged sexual abuse, but did tell ex Avril during their four year marriage from 2006-2010.
He writes in the memoir that Lavigne exclaimed when told of the alleged abuse: ‘That’s abuse! He sexually abused you’ with his current wife Ariana Cooper responding in the same way.
Whibley claims Nori – who also produced some of the band’s songs – would insist on a songwriter credit on ‘most of’ their tracks – claiming the music industry would ‘take them more seriously’ if his name was down as a co-writer.
In 2018 Whibley sued Nori over allegedly taking some of his most lucrative songwriting credits – with Whibley winning back the songwriting share of the band’s publishing credits.
Whibley writes that he tried to get his bandmates to fire Nori, citing time management issues, and allegedly showing up to a band show high on ecstasy – but the band refused.
Nori was fired in 2005 after album Chuck was released
Whibley told Rolling Stone about his decision to reveal the alleged abuse for the first time: ‘I always thought that I would take this to my grave and I wouldn’t say anything. As I started getting into the book, I felt like, ‘How could I not be honest?’”
He says he was inspired to reveal the alleged abuse after his wife Ariana detailed a past suicide attempt in a joint 2021 interview – saying ‘I felt the importance to just be open’
‘I went through a long period of my time where I didn’t think about it anymore. I came to realize it was self-defense. I came to realize later on that I didn’t want to think about it or have any feelings of being a victim. I didn’t want to have victim issues.
To this day Whibley does not call the alleged incidents ‘abuse’ in his memoir and said he’s still in the ‘early stages’ of processing it.
‘I’m dealing with it for the first time and I don’t know what I think about it. I can’t deny that it was very manipulative, but I didn’t really realize what a lot of this was. It didn’t dawn on me until I hit the age he was, in his mid-30s, when I was a teenager. He was a hero so to see that power dynamic, you see how you can manipulate a 16-year-old kid.’
He says he was inspired to reveal the alleged abuse after Ariana – with whom ge shares two children – detailed a past suicide attempt in a joint 2021 interview – saying ‘I felt the importance to just be open.’
Whibley sent the memoir – set for release on Tuesday – to his bandmates, saying: ‘He became kind of a bad guy to all of us. We all collectively never spoke about him.’
Last year Sum 41 announced they would be breaking up as a band after releasing one last studio album and tour.
‘Being in Sum 41 since 1996 brought us some of the best moments in our lives. We are forever grateful to our fans both old and new, who have supported us in any way. It is hard to articulate the love and respect we have for all of you and we wanted you to hear this from us first,’ a statement read on their Instagram page in May.
Last year Sum 41 announced they would be disbanding after a final headlining tour and eight and final studio album
The band thanked fans when announcing their plan to break up
‘Sum 41 will be disbanding. We will still be finishing all of our current upcoming tour dates this year, and we’re looking forward to releasing our final album Heaven :x: Hell, along with a final worldwide headlining tour to celebrate, Details will be announced as soon as we have them.’
The band, which also includes Dave Baksh, Jason McCaslin, Tom Thacker and Frank Zummo ended the statement by writing how they’re ‘excited for what the future will bring for each of us. Thank you for the last 27 years of Sum 41.’
Sum 41’s final show is scheduled for November. 23, 2024, in Nanterre, France
Since forming in 1996, Sum 41 has released eight studio albums, with their final album Heaven :x: Hell released in March 2024.
