law, non-sexualized photographs of babies are not considered to be child pornography. He is asking for $150,000 from each defendant, including surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain’s estate, album photographer Kurt Weddle, Cobain’s former wife, Courtney Love, Universal Music, Geffen Records, Warner Records, and MCA Music.Īccording to the BBC, Elden argued that his “true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day.” He added that the artwork has caused him “extreme and permanent emotional distress,” and he has suffered lifelong damage and needs “medical and psychological treatment.” The baby, now a 30-year-old man named Spencer Elden, also alleges that the band carried out child pornography by featuring a photograph of a naked baby. The band sold and profited from more than 30 million copies of “Nevermind,” according to the filing.The baby on the cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album, released in 1991, is suing the band for allegedly exploiting his image, saying the band knowingly distributed his naked photograph as a baby and profited from it. Lewis, Elden’s lawyer, writes in the suit that Elden has suffered greatly from the image and its wide circulation, including interference in developmental and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life. “Cobain chose the image depicting Spencer - like a sex worker - grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed.” “To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer’s exposed genitals,” the lawsuit claims. The original album artwork features an underwater picture of Elden floating nude in a pool, chasing a digitally imposed dollar bill attached to a fish hook. It’s strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image.”ĭespite his conflicting feelings, Elden has recreated the photograph - while wearing trunks - to celebrate the record’s 10th, 17th, 20th and 25th anniversaries. Just a few weeks later, he told the New York Post: “The anniversary means something to me. I’m just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I’m here.” He expressed a different view In 2016, when he said that “it’s f-ed up” and that he was “pissed off” that people still talk about it. Elden has said that he hasn’t received any further compensation for the photo.Įlden has expressed mixed emotions about the album cover photo, telling NPR in 2008, “Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis, so that’s kinda cool. The suit says that neither Elden nor his legal guardians ever signed a release for the image. Weddle took the photo of Elden in 1991, when he was 4 months old, and paid Elden’s parents just $200 for the shoot. Strangely, Chad Channing, the band’s drummer from 1980-1990, is also named, even though he left the band before the album was recorded or the artwork was chosen. The suit, filed Tuesday in California’s Central District Court, names Nirvana, LLC surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Courtney Love, as executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate two managers of Cobain’s estate Kirk Weddle, the photographer who took the picture Robert Fisher, who was hired to design the album artwork and several record companies that released or distributed the album.