The man shown as a baby on the classic album cover of Nirvana has lost a lawsuit accusing the band of child pornography.
Spencer Elden, a 31-year-old Los Angeles artist, filed the lawsuit in 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that his naked appearance as a 4-month-old infant on the cover of the 1991 album “Nevermind” caused him emotional distress and a loss of adult learning capacity.
Elden attempted to sue former band members Krist Novoselic, Chad Channing, David Grohl, and Robert Fisher, as well as the estate of Kurt Cobain and his wife, Courtney Love, for a total of $150,000 per individual.
According to Elden’s lawsuit, the artists allegedly “commercially advertised Spencer’s child pornography and exploited the disturbing nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at his expense.”
Keeping pace with the B-52s 07:38 Unopposed motion to dismiss
More than 30 million copies of the CD depicting Elden swimming naked in a pool and reaching for a $1 bill overlaid on a fish hook have been sold globally.
Friday, United States district judge Fernando M. Olguin concluded that Elden had waited too long to launch the claim, given that he first became aware of the album cover more than a decade ago.
In January, the judge dropped the case after Elden’s attorneys missed the deadline to oppose the defendants’ petition to dismiss.
Elden’s attorneys were permitted to submit a second amended complaint regarding “supposed flaws” in the defendants’ request to dismiss.
In their move to dismiss, Nirvana’s attorneys contended that Elden had profited for three decades from his representation on the album cover.
“He has repeatedly reenacted the photograph for a fee; he has the album title ‘Nevermind’ tattooed across his chest; he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie; he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay; and he has used the connection to try to attract women,” they said.