Former Sum 41 manager denies Deryck Whibley’s accusations of sexual abuse from new memoir

nme.com:

Sum 41, has denied accusations of sexual abuse put forward by the band’s frontman Deryck Whibley.The allegations arose as the singer yesterday (October 8) 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 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.Speaking to The Globe And Mail on Monday evening, Nori said that he had not seen the book or heard the allegations and added: “These are false allegations”.

Nori also said that he had retained a defamation lawyer.According to the allegations put forward, the frontman claimed the abuse began when Whibley was 16 and Nori was 34.

The two are said to have met when Whibley snuck backstage at a Treble Charger gig to invite Nori to a Sum 41 show. From there, Whibley alleged Nori gave him his phone number, and they would talk on the phone for hours.The memoir also claimed that Nori got him and drummer Steve Jocz their first drinks, and would become the band’s manager and Whibley’s mentor – helping with booking studio sessions and networking.

Whibley also wrote in Walking Disaster that he felt he “couldn’t talk to anyone but him”, and that Nori felt like “the only person we could trust”.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.