Sault musician Greig Nori is fighting back against allegations that he sexually abused the lead singer of Sum 41 when he managed the band back in the 1990s.
In a prepared statement released Thursday afternoon to media outlets, including SooToday, Nori denies that he “groomed” Deryck Whibley and insists the two had a consensual sexual relationship that began when both of them were adults.
“The accusation that I initiated the relationship is false,” Nori says in his statement. “I did not initiate it. Whibley initiated it, aggressively.”
In his newly released book, Whibley alleges that he was coerced into a sexual relationship by Nori — co-founder of the popular band Treble Charger — after becoming a mentor to the teenage musician.
Nori is currently employed by the Algoma Conservatory of Music as recording studio manager and engineer at The Loft. But after the allegations emerged, it appeared that working relationship was in question after his online biography was suddenly deleted from the conservatory’s website.
On Tuesday, Guy Traficante, principal and artistic director for the Algoma Conservatory of Music, initially came to Nori’s defence.
“I have no information regarding these allegations. I understand Greig Nori has said the allegations are false,” Traficante wrote in an email to SooToday. “Greig Nori has always been fully professional in his work here. I have received only excellent comments from the people he has worked with.
“I certainly hope these allegations will not impact his excellent work here in any way.”
On Wednesday — after Nori’s biography vanished from the website — Traficante declined to comment on Nori’s employment status.
“I can likely follow up with further details by early next week,” he said.
By Thursday night, Nori’s biography was back on the site with a personal message at the top.
“Hello everyone,” it says. “I will be taking a four-week leave of absence to address the recent false allegations made against me. I have responded to these allegations through statements in the press. I sincerely appreciate the support you have shown. Thank you, Greig Nori.”
Released earlier this week, Whibley’s memoir — Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell — revealed the sexual abuse he allegedly endured during his relationship with Nori in his new book. He also spoke about the alleged abuse in interviews with The Toronto Star and Los Angeles Times, among others.
Whibley was 16 years old when he first met Nori in the mid-90s. The Treble Charger frontman was in his mid-30s. The Sum 41 singer wrote that Nori became "like an older brother or even father figure to me," adding that Whibley and his bandmates didn’t know Nori’s age at the time, but “didn’t care.”
Nori eventually became the band’s manager — but according to Whibley, there was one condition attached. “He wanted total control,” he wrote in the book. “He promised to protect us. We were so young and hungry that we believed him.”
It wasn’t long after that, Whibley wrote, when his relationship with Nori turned physical during a warehouse party in New York. He was 18 years old at the time.
“We were jammed in a gross bathroom stall and I was talking non-stop, when he reached over, grabbed my face, and kissed me on the mouth passionately,” Whibley wrote. “I was very confused. Was that OK? Was I upset? Did I like it? Was he gay? Was he just high and being crazy? So many thoughts were coming at me so quickly that I couldn’t comprehend them.”
Whibley kept the encounter secret from his bandmates, but he says Nori persuaded him to continue the physical aspect of the relationship. Whibley said his mentor "kept pushing for things to happen when we were together," adding that he "felt like I was being pressured to do something against my will."
Whibley continued the relationship despite not being attracted to men, although he "couldn't take things much further than rolling around, making out and sometimes jerking each other off," according to an article published by USA Today this week.
"I was so embarrassed that I had gotten myself into this mess, but I also felt guilty for being embarrassed, like that somehow made me homophobic," Whibley writes. "I was still in a place where I needed to believe Greig was great, and the thought of him being a sexual predator was something I chose to bury. I couldn't tell people any of this. I wanted to protect him."
His relationship with Nori came to an end after he began dating pop-punk singer Avril Lavigne in 2004. Whibley, who was afraid of Nori’s reaction to his new relationship, said he would sneak in and out of Lavigne's Toronto home, which was "just two doors down" from Nori's home.
Whibley later confided in Lavigne about his experiences with Nori. That’s when Lavigne told him: "That's abuse! He sexually abused you!"
"Later, I lay in bed thinking. Was it abuse? Could it be abuse if I went along with it?" Whibley writes. "I didn’t think it was abuse. It was my own fault. I was not a victim. I refused to allow myself to think that I was a victim of sexual abuse."
"What made a 35-year-old adult give a teen his phone number backstage at a concert? Why did a famous rockstar want to hang out with a kid who looked and acted like he was 14 years old?" Whibley writes.
He added that Nori's behaviour "seems predatory."
"Back then, I genuinely thought he wanted to check out my band, but as an adult and in the position I'm in now, that just sounds ludicrous."
Whibley says he never heard the term ‘grooming’ until he became an adult.
"Was it abuse? Was it my own fault? Is this why he gave us all drugs and alcohol at such a young age? I don’t know,” he writes. “At the very least, I can't deny that he was incredibly manipulative."
Nori has never been criminally charged in connection with the allegations outlined in Whibley’s book.
In his statement to SooToday Thursday, Nori said the accusation that he engaged in a non-consensual sexual relationship with Whibley is a "lie," while acknowledging there was a consensual sexual relationship between the two.
"When the relationship began Whibley was an adult, as was I," he wrote. "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."
The publisher of Whibley's memoir has since pulled the plug on media requests for interviews with the Sum 41 singer after the bombshell allegations became public.
“At this time, we are placing a pause on further interviews, but are happy to provide you with a copy of the book for editorial purposes, and we remain available to support your coverage in other ways,” said Alyssa Boyden, publicist for Simon & Schuster Canada, in an email to SooToday Tuesday.