Spencer Elden, now 30, alleged that the band violated federal child pornography laws and accused them of "child sexual exploitation."
Nirvana's album Nevermind featured a baby underwater on its iconic cover. Now, the infant is a grown man who is suing the former band members, the state of Kurt Cobain, and many others over his famous naked photograph. Spencer Elden, now 30, alleged that the band violated federal child pornography laws and accused them of "child sexual exploitation." In a lawsuit filed at a federal court in California on Tuesday, Elden claimed that his parents never signed a release allowing the Smells Like Teen Spirit creators to use the picture.
The cover features an infant Elden swimming underwater while undressed with his eyes fixated on a dollar bill on a fishing hook. This cover image would soon become one of the most lasting pictures in rock music following the release of the record. But now Elden's attorneys say that their client suffered "lifelong damages" due to his involvement in the pornographic image, according to CNN. In the complaint, the 30-year-old alleged that his "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."
Per CBS News, the suit states that the defendants "knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer, and they knowingly received value in exchange for doing so. … Despite this knowledge, defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking." The picture, which was taken in 1990 at a Pasadena aquatic center when Elden was just 4 months old, allegedly suggested a "sex worker grabbing for a dollar bill" and that it was chosen by Nirvana's late frontman, Kurt Cobain, himself.
"To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, (photographer Kirk) Weddle activated Spencer's 'gag reflex' before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer's exposed genitals," alleged the suit, adding that Elden's family did not receive any compensation for the picture. The defendants "used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews," it continued.
Thus, Elden is now seeking $150,000 each from the 17 defendants, plus legal costs, or unspecified damages which will be determined at a trial. The defendant's list includes the executor of Cobain's estate, singer Courtney Love, photographer Kirk Weddle, record labels Warner Records, and the Universal Music Group. Apparently, the plaintiff has recreated the famous image a few times as an adult. Once in 2008, when he was just 17, and again in 2016 to mark the album's 25th anniversary. For both the recreation shoots, he wore shorts and was paid $200 in 2016 for it. However, he did express his discomfort with the album cover's popularity during interviews.
Speaking to the Sunday Times in 2007, Elden said he found it "kind of creepy that many people have seen me naked ... I feel like the world's biggest porn star." Then in 2008, he told CNN that he would often get asked to attend events as the "Nirvana baby." The same year he told the news outlet, "Rumor had it that Cobain had the original concept of wanting to show a mother giving birth underwater. But the compromise was to have a baby swimming underwater. Or so that's what I was told." The album sold more than 30 million copies since its release in 1991 and now Elden wants them to pay for the "personal injury (including emotional distress and loss of earnings) by the distribution and possession of child pornography."
References:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nirvana-nevermind-baby-sues-lawsuit-cover-spencer-elden-child-porn/
Cover image source: YouTube | CNBC TV
