Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley is doubling down on his claims that he was sexually abused by his band's former manager.
Whibley claims in his memoir, “Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell,” published earlier this month, that producer and musician Greig Nori “groomed” and “sexually abused” him for years, beginning when he was 16 years old and Nori 34. .
Nori has since denied “pressuring” Whibley to do anything, telling the toronto star last week: “The accusation that I started the relationship is false. I didn't start it. Whibley started it aggressively.”
He went on to say that “when the relationship began, Whibley was an adult” and that over time, the couple's bond “simply faded.” Consensually.” Nori did not directly address the allegations of sexual harassment or harassment.
Whibley responded to Nori's statement in a video Tuesday on unknownsaying: “It's been an extremely hard week for me.”
“It has come to my attention that Greig Nori has now called me a liar. “I’ll tell you right now, I stand by every word that’s in my book, 100%,” he said, insisting that “he’s not a liar.”
Whibley continued: “I'm going to speak to you directly, Greig Nori. If you think I'm a liar, there's only one way to resolve this: under oath. In front of a judge, in front of a jury, whenever you want. “I’m ready when you are.”
Nori and a representative for Whibley did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
In “Walking Disaster,” Whibley describes his first meeting with Nori at one of his Treble Charger shows, when the young musician slipped backstage to invite his fellow Canadian to one of Sum 41's upcoming performances.
Nori became Whibley's vocal coach and then Sum 41's manager. At first, according to Whibley, Nori seemed to be helping the band get off the ground, but gradually, “she 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 told The Times earlier this month, before of the publication of his memoirs.
Whibley was 18 when Nori made his first move on his junior musician, Whibley said. Squeezed together in a bathroom, Whibley writes in his memoirs, Nori grabbed his face and kissed him “passionately.”
Whibley said Nori justified his actions as an exploration of queer identity, something he said many rock stars at the time were “afraid” to confront, according to the book. When Whibley finally tried to end their physical encounters, he said Nori became enraged, called Whibley a “homophobe” and said he “owed” him to jump-start his music career, according to the memoir.
The couple's sexual interactions finally ended when a mutual friend found out what happened, Whibley says in his account. That friend, as well as Whibley's ex-partner, Avril Lavigne, and his current wife of 10 years, model Ariana Cooper, told him that what had happened was “abuse.”
Years later, Sum 41 finally parted ways with Nori, Whibley said. But the vocalist never told his bandmates about the alleged abuse. They discovered it like everyone else: through memories.
When Whibley began writing “Walking Disaster,” he said he was afraid people would tell him, “This is your fault,” he told The Times. But in the end “he didn't hold back.”
“I got to a point where I thought, 'I don't care what people take away from this.' “That was the only way I could write the book,” he said.
