Greig Nori, former manager of pop punk band Sum 41, has denied claims contained in singer Deryck Whibley's memoirs, accusing him of coercion and sexual abuse.
“The accusation that I started the relationship is false. I didn't start it. Whibley started it aggressively,” Nori wrote in a statement to the Toronto Star on Thursday.
“When the relationship began, Whibley was an adult, and so was I,” Nori continued. “The allegation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship is false. The allegation that I pressured Whibley into continuing the relationship by accusing him of homophobia is false. In the end, the relationship simply fizzled out. Consensually. “Our business relationship continued.”
Nori did not immediately respond to The Times' requests for comment.
Nori, now 61, was the singer of the Canadian punk group Treble Charger, a local hero for Whibley and host of the MuchMusic reality show “Disband.” Nori later managed Sum 41, which achieved worldwide success with 2001's “All Killer No Filler” and “Does This Look Infected?” of 2002.
In his new memoir, “Walking Disaster,” Whibley alleges that Nori groomed and abused him for years, beginning when he was 16 and Nori was 34.
“Everything became very clear,” Whibley told The Times in an interview. “Then, about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories about self-care and it all started to make sense.”
“He controlled everything in my life, but even the rest of the guys through the band,” Whibley continued. “We were all under his protection. Me more, obviously. But he was a very controlling person.”
After firing Nori in the 2000s, Sum 41 released four more albums between 2007 and 2019, and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for his hard rock/metal performance. In 2024, he reunited with Sum 41 to release his latest LP, the double album “Heaven :x: Hell.”
