Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley has spoken out following his former manager denying accusations of sexual abuse, saying he is willing to go to court.
The allegations arose last week, when the singer shared his first memoir, Walking Disaster, and also opened up to the LA Times about some of the more serious subject matter in the book.
In the memoir, Whibley accused Grieg Nori – who is also the frontman for fellow pop-punk group Treble Charger – of grooming him, as well as sexually and verbally abusing him for years.
In response, Nori spoke to The Globe And Mail, saying: “These are false allegations”. Nori also said that he had retained a defamation lawyer.
He also spoke to the Toronto Star, and claimed that it was Whibley who initiated the relationship, as well as saying that accusations of “grooming” were false as they were both allegedly adults when the relationship began.
“The accusation that I initiated the relationship is false. I did not initiate it. Whibley initiated it, aggressively,” he claimed. “When the relationship began Whibley was an adult, as was I.”
He continued, telling the outlet: “The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship is false. The accusation that I pressured Whibley to continue the relationship by accusing him of homophobia is false. Ultimately the relationship simply faded out. Consensually. Our business relationship continued.”
Now, Whibley has taken to social media to respond to Nori’s comments, and said “I stand behind every word that is in my book”, and is willing to go to court over the issue.
“I take no pleasure in coming out with the truth about what happened between me and my ex-manager. But it was something that I couldn’t keep in anymore, and I had to let it out,” the singer said in a new video posted to Instagram.
“It’s come to my attention that Greig Nori has now called me a liar. I’ll tell you right now, I stand behind every word that is in my book, 100 per cent,” he added. “I’m not a liar, and I’m going to speak to you directly, Grieg Nori. If you think I’m a liar, there is only one way to settle this: under oath. In front of a judge, in front of a jury, anytime you want. I’m ready whenever you are.”
He concluded: “To everyone else, I just want to thank you for all the love and support. My band, my family, thank you all. Of course the fans, I’ll see you again soon and we’ll get through this like we get through everything else.”
NME has reached out to Nori for comment. This is a developing story.
An instance of alleged abuse detailed in the book reportedly took place when Whibley was 18, and Nori allegedly grabbed his face and “passionately” kissed him while they were doing ecstasy in the bathroom of a rave. The Sum 41 singer alleged that he was surprised by the move as he hadn’t thought of Nori like that prior. He also claimed that from there, Nori persuaded him into exploring what they had, saying: “Most people are bisexual; they’re just too afraid to admit it.”
Whibley also claimed that, that when he tried to end things with Nori, the Treble Charger frontman accused him of being homophobic and listed out the ways that Sum 41 “owed” him for helping get their career off the ground.
Later in the book, Whibley alleged that the unwanted sexual encounters came to an end when a mutual friend between him and Nori said it was abuse. However, he claimed instances of psychological and verbal abuse soon worsened as Nori would allegedly fluctuate between praising Whibley and berating him. Whibley also accused him of being insistent on getting songwriting credit on many Sum 41 songs. This, Nori allegedly said, was because it would give the band “more credibility”.
Sum 41 would later fire Nori in 2005, citing that he was not responding to requests, unreachable and missing opportunities. Whibley says he had not revealed the nature of their relationship to his bandmates at that point.
In a statement to The Globe And Mail, Nori said that he had not heard the accusations prior to coverage being shared online.
As for Sum 41, last year the Canadian band confirmed they would be breaking up following the release of one final album and a farewell world tour.
Earlier this summer, guitarist Dave Baksh and bassist Jason “Cone” McCaslin also touched upon how the band have become “stronger” in recent years, following health issues faced by Whibley.
“We took about two years off for Deryck to figure out his health problems and then when we got back together with Dave it just seemed [right]” Cone said. “When everything got back together it felt really good. It’s been a rollercoaster for our whole career so it feels good to be playing these big festivals and higher up on the bill now.”
For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.