Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley accuses Treble Charger’s Greig Nori of abuse

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In his new memoir, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley alleges that his former manager pressured him to be in a sexual relationship.

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In the pages of the book, titled Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, Whibley, 44, claims Greig Nori, frontman of Sault Ste. Marie’s Treble Charger, groomed and sexually and verbally abused him for years, beginning when he was just 16 and Nori was 34.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Whibley alleges that Nori gave him his first alcoholic drink when he was underage and became his musical mentor and later, Sum 41’s manager.

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“Greig had one requirement to be our manager — he wanted total control,” Whibley writes in the book (per the Times). “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.”

But the relationship took a turn he says when Nori, who produced Sum 41’s Does This Look Infected? and Chuck, passionately” kissed Whibley at a rave. 

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After the incident, Whibley writes in his book, Nori said they should pursue a relationship because “so many of my rock star idols were queer. … Most people are bisexual; they’re just too afraid to admit it.

“He was so relentless and convincing that after a while, I started to believe that maybe he was right,” Whibley writes.

Whibley told the Times that he hasn’t informed Nori of the allegations contained in the book.

“You know, I don’t owe him anything,” he says. “I’ve had an inner battle, like, ‘Why do I want to tell him? Because I feel like I’m supposed to? Because he still has this thing over me?’ He controlled everything in my life, but even the rest of the guys through the band. We were all under his wing. Me more, obviously. But he was such a controlling person.”

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When Whibley told his ex-wife Avril Lavigne, who he was married to from 2006 to 2009, she said that Nori’s alleged behaviour was abusive.

“That’s abuse! He sexually abused you,” he writes that she said. Whibley said that his current wife, Ariana Cooper, had the same reaction.

In an excerpt obtained by PEOPLE, Whibley says Nori called him “homophobic” when he tried to put an end to their relationship.

“He told me this was all my fault to begin with because I should never have said yes to it in the first place. I started this and now he was in it with me so I couldn’t just stop,” Whibley writes.

Their sexual encounters ended, Whibley writes, when a mutual friend, who also categorized their relationship as abusive, discovered what was happening.

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Whibley also alleges that Nori’s controlling nature extended to members of the Grammy-nominated band. “He wouldn’t let our parents know anything,” Whibley tells the Times. “He tried to keep them away all the time. Now it makes more sense. Because he was the same age as our parents, and we didn’t know that at the time. He knew they would get suspicious of the way things were running. … He would always be like, ‘You can’t have a relationship with your parents and be in a rock band. It’s not cool. It’s going to hurt your career.’”

Whibley says it wasn’t until he was in his mid-30s, long after they had fired Nori as their manager, that he realized that the power dynamic that existed between the two was wrong.

“It all became so clear,” Whibley tells the Times. “Then about a year later, the Me Too thing started happening. I started hearing stories of grooming, and it all started to make sense.”

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Nori has yet to respond to the allegations and Postmedia has reached out for comment.

Sum 41 are in the midst of their final tour in support of this year’s Heaven :x: Hell.

The Canadian punk rockers will wrap up their career with a two-night stand at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Jan. 28 and 30.

“Our last show is on Jan. 30, and by Feb. 1, I’ll be like, ‘OK f***, I got no job. What am I gonna do? What is exciting me today?’” Whibley says.

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