Sum 41 band member Deryck Whibley has made shocking allegations against the group’s former manager.
In a new excerpt from his memoir titled Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and HellWhibley accused former manager Greig Nori of sexual abuse and grooming. In the book, he claims that the abuse began when he was 16 years old and Nori was 34 years old.
Excerpts from the book were collected by Los Angeles Times. On one occasion, Whibley said that Nori cornered him in a bathroom stall during a wild party and kissed him “passionately”. Over time, Whibley claimed that he was manipulated by Nori after Nori called him homophobic if he did not respond.
The “In Too Deep” hitmaker shared that Nori said he “owed” his career to his manager at the time and claimed that Nori pressured him to continue the relationship because “so many star idols My rock star is gay”.
“Greig had one request to be our manager – he wanted total control. We couldn’t talk to anyone but him, because the music business was ‘full of snakes’. and lies’ and he was the only one we could trust,” he wrote in the book.
Whibley shared that the Me Too movement helped him understand what happened to him.
“It all became so obvious. Then about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories about grooming and it all started to make sense,” he wrote.
Nori did not speak out about the allegations when reported. However, Whibley spoke to Rolling Stone about the allegations he revealed in his book.
“I always thought I would take this book to my grave and not say anything. When I started reading the book, I felt like ‘How could I not be honest?’ he told the outlet.
Whibley reportedly did not tell his band members about the alleged abuse that happened to him over the years. Nori was fired from the band in 2005 at Whibley’s urging. Los Angeles Times report. At the time, it was said that they had broken up because of Nori’s professional failures.
Whibley went on to marry pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne, who he said was the first person to reveal to him that he had been abused at the hands of Nori.
“That’s abuse! [Nori] sexually abused you,” she allegedly told him in an excerpt.
Lavigne and Whibley eventually divorced. He is married to Ariana Cooper. They have been married for 10 years.
Card Sum 41, Avril Lavigne