Deryck Whibley has accused former Sum 41 manager and Treble Charger vocalist Greig Nori of sexual and verbal abuse.
Whibley opened up about their relationship in his new memoir, ‘Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell,’ released on October 8. He explains that they met when he was 16, and Nori was 33 or 34. “Greig had one requirement to be our manager — he wanted total control,” Whibley wrote in his book.
Recalling the manager’s unexpected move, the rocker continued: “We were jammed in a gross bathroom stall and I was talking non-stop, when he reached over, grabbed my face, and kissed me on the mouth passionately. I was very confused. Was that OK? Was I upset? Did I like it? Was he gay? Was he just high and being crazy? So many thoughts were coming at me so quickly that I couldn’t comprehend them.”
“Greig kept pushing for things to happen when we were together. I started feeling like I was being pressured to do something against my will,” he added.
Whibley kept his experience to himself until he shared it with his then-partner Avril Lavigne. In his book, he recalled how Lavigne reacted strongly. “That’s abuse! He sexually abused you,” she told Whibley.
Almost 30 years later today, the frontman has decided to come forward to sue the manager. “You can’t sue [someone] for telling the truth,” he told Toronto Star. “If he wants to challenge it, I welcome that. Let’s go to court. Let’s go under oath. That would be f*cking great! I welcome that part. Let’s get into discovery. I’ll have my lawyers grill you. They can grill me all they want. I mean, that would be f*cking perfect! Finally, let’s get it on record!”
Although he doesn’t label it as ‘abuse’ in his memoir, Whibley admits he’s still processing what happened. When asked if he views it as abuse today, he said he’s in the ‘early stages’ of coming to terms with 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,” Whibley told Rolling Stone. “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.”
Nori did not respond to Whibley’s comments or the requests for comment from either source.
