Sum 41's Former Manager Responds to Deryck Whibley's Sexual Abuse Allegations

Sum 41's former manager, Greig Nori, has spoken out on the allegations brought against him by band member Deryck Whibley.

Nori has denied the allegations that he sexually abused Whibley, which were brought forth by Whibley in his new memoir, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell.

"These are false allegations," Nori said to The Globe And Mail while revealing that he has retained a lawyer.

In excerpts from the book obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Whibley alleged that he suffered verbal and sexual abuse from Nori while in Sum 41. Whibley says the alleged abuse took place when he was 16 and Nori was 34.

In one incident, Whibley alleges that Nori cornered him in a bathroom stall at a rave and "passionately" kissed him. He writes that he was surprised by the move made by Nori and had not thought of Nori in that way prior to the incident.

From there, Whibley alleges that Nori persuaded him into exploring things further, saying: "Most people are bisexual; they're just too afraid to admit it."

He goes on to allege that when he did try to cut his ties with Nori, Nori accused him of being homophobic and listed out the ways that Sum 41 "owed" him for helping get their career off the ground.

"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," Whibley writes in the book.

While he kept the alleged abuse to himself over the years, he did share that he confided in Avril Lavigne -- his now ex-wife -- about what had happened to him and that she was the one who told him that what he experienced was abuse.

"That's abuse! [Nori] sexually abused you," she told him, according to the excerpt.

Whibley also credited the Me Too movement for helping him understand the alleged abuse and what happened to him.

"It all became so clear. Then about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories of grooming, and it all started to make sense," he writes in the book.

Tags

Sum 41, Avril Lavigne