Nirvana sued by the baby from Nevermind cover for child pornography

[Josephus]

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58327844



Spencer Elden, the man who was photographed as a baby on the album cover for Nirvana's Nevermind, is suing the band alleging sexual exploitation.

The cover depicts Elden as a four-month-old in a swimming pool, grasping for a dollar bill that's being dangled in front of him on a fishing line.

Now 30, Elden says his parents never signed a release authorising the use of his image on the album.

He also alleges the nude image constitutes child pornography.

"The images exposed Spencer's intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer's genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day," legal papers filed in California claim.

Non-sexualised photos of infants are generally not considered child pornography under US law.

However, Elden's lawyer, Robert Y. Lewis, argues that the inclusion of the dollar bill (which was superimposed after the photograph was taken) makes the minor seem "like a sex worker".

The legal case also alleges that Nirvana had promised to cover Elden's genitals with a sticker, but the agreement was not upheld.

Elden alleges 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 claims he "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages" as a result of the artwork, including "extreme and permanent emotional distress" as well as "interference with his normal development and educational progress" and "medical and psychological treatment".

He is asking for damages of at least $150,000 (£109,000) from each of the 15 defendants, who include surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic; the managers of Kurt Cobain's estate; Cobain's former wife Courtney Love; and photographer Kirk Weddle.

Representatives for Nirvana and their record labels have yet to respond to the claims.

[Josquius]

Guess his life hasn't worked out.

[The Brain]

Maybe having nude pics of children on album covers isn't a great idea. The album Virgin Killer by Scorpions comes to mind.

[Maladict]

Yeah, he seems to have been very distressed about it for a long time. 

https://www.stereogum.com/1901104/nirvana-baby-issues-another-nevermind-cover-recreation-for-25th-anniversary/news/

[Syt]

WaPo also covers this.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/25/naked-baby-suing-nirvana-child-pornography/

A naked baby helped Nirvana sell millions of records. Now 30, he's suing the band for 'child pornography.'

Spencer Elden may very well be the most famous naked baby the world has ever seen.

A photo of him as an infant — submerged in water and seemingly chasing a dollar bill dangling from a fish hook — became the cover of Nirvana's 1991 release "Nevermind," considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Three decades later, Elden is now claiming the album cover is child pornography.

Elden, who's 30, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court against a host of defendants tied to the album, alleging the cover is "sexual exploitation" that will hurt him — emotionally and physically — for the rest of his life.

Those defendants include Nirvana LLC, several of its members, the estate of frontman Kurt Cobain, the designer and photographer involved in creating the cover, and the record label that released the album. None of them responded to emails sent from The Washington Post late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

The suit alleges that all were involved in making child pornography and benefited from "the sex-trafficking venture and Spencer's exploitation" that was the distribution of "Nevermind."

"[They] used child pornography depicting Spencer ... in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention," the lawsuit states. Elden is represented by Robert Y. Lewis, a New York-based attorney.

Elden's legal guardians did not sign a release authorizing Nirvana or the band's record label to use the image of Elden "and certainly not of commercial child pornography," the suit claims. Elden said he has never received any financial compensation for the cover, which Billboard last year ranked No. 7 on its list of "The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time."

Cobain's original idea for the cover of "Nevermind" was a baby being born underwater, but designer Robert Fisher nixed it as infeasible, according to an undated article written for Milanote, a company that offers an online organization tool.

While ruling out much of Cobain's idea, Fisher kept the germ of having a baby underwater.

"So Kurt came up with the idea of adding a fishhook to make it more menacing," Fisher said for the Milanote article, which Elden cites in his lawsuit.

Concept in hand, they hired photographer Kirk Weddle to execute their vision. Weddle then recruited about five parents to bring their infants to an aquatic center in Pasadena, Calif., according to Milanote, where they took turns passing their babies under the water as Weddle took pictures.

Elden's dad, Rick, had become friends with Weddle when he was helping with sets and props on photo shoots. One day, Weddle telephoned with an unusual request concerning his 4-month-old son.

"[He] calls us up and was like, 'Hey Rick, [want to] make 200 bucks and throw your kid in the drink?'" Rick Elden told NPR at the time. "And we just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"

A week later, Fisher received the proof sheets of 40 to 50 shots. One stood out far above the rest: It was Elden.

"There was just one that was absolutely perfect. The positioning, the look on the baby's face, the way that his arms were stretched out like he was reaching for something — everything about it was just perfect. That's the one I picked," Fisher said for the Milanote article.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday paints a darker picture, identifying Nirvana's frontman as the one who made the decision.

"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," the suit alleges.

Elden has spent decades struggling to come to terms with the fame that has followed him since before he could walk. He has worked with photographers several times over the years to re-create the album cover — all with clothes on. He has "Nevermind" tattooed across his chest.

His attitudes about it have changed, too.

In 2008, as a teenager, he told NPR: "Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis," he said. "So that's [kind of] cool. I'm just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I'm here."

Over the next eight years, his outlook soured. In 2016, Elden did several interviews when he was in his mid-20s on the 25th anniversary of the "Nevermind" release.

In one with GQ, Elden said he was angry about being defined by something he had no control over. In another with Time, he said "it feels kind of stupid doing interviews about it, because I had nothing to do with it, but a lot to do with it all at the same time."

Elden said some people think it's cool that he's "the Nirvana baby." But, he added, women he dated would dump him when they found out he wasn't making any money off it. And having friends talk about the naked photo was embarrassing, especially without any compensation to offset that humiliation, he said.

While Elden has struggled financially, he said, others have and are still making millions off something he helped create — even if he didn't have a say in what was created.

"It's a trip. Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I'm the last little bit of grunge rock," he told Time in 2016. "I'm living in my mom's house and driving a Honda Civic."

Elden is seeking at least $150,000 from each of the 15 named defendants in the lawsuit, legal fees and other unspecified damages.

In the GQ article, Elden also addressed an issue more closely tied to the lawsuit he filed Tuesday.

"I've been going through it my whole life. But recently I've been thinking, 'What if I wasn't OK with my freaking penis being shown to everybody?' I didn't really have a choice."

Perhaps sensing it had become a sore subject, the interviewer gave Elden a reprieve. They were done talking about Nirvana, he said. Time to move on to a new subject: What was he doing now? After all, Elden had become an accomplished artist in his own right.

"I've been doing a few art shows and paintings," Elden said before turning back to the subject of the Nirvana album cover. "I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to do a piece of work better than that in my entire life. But I'm just trying to get it out of my head — this image of a baby chasing a dollar — and not worry about making millions of dollars.

"It's a complicated thing."

I like to think that the image the Post uses for the article was taken during this performance of Pennyroyal Tea in 1993:

https://youtu.be/L6PTI0Gh5zU

Because, you know, Pennyroyal Tea - Penny Royalty - IT'S A PUN

[DGuller]

An ambitious prosecutor can subpoena the sales records for the albums, and put away millions of sex offenders for child porn possession.

[Valmy]

He is asking for damages of at least $150,000 (£109,000) from each of the 15 defendants, who include surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic; the managers of Kurt Cobain's estate; Cobain's former wife Courtney Love; and photographer Kirk Weddle.

That's it? They can probably settle.

[alfred russel]

Guess his life hasn't worked out.

oh well. whatever.

nevermind.

[Grey Fox]

Pay the man.

[The Minsky Moment]

Statute of limitations is 10 years and begins to run when the victim reaches the age of 18, or from when the photo is discovered if later.

Eldon is 30 so it appears to be time barred.

[DGuller]

Statute of limitations is 10 years and begins to run when the victim reaches the age of 18, or from when the photo is discovered if later.

Eldon is 30 so it appears to be time barred.

When does it start for someone who bought the album?  If you bought the copy last year, are you fucked?

[The Minsky Moment]

The lawsuit is based on the original creation and use of the images, which occurred a lot earlier than 10 years ago.

[Tonitrus]

Regarding the statue of limitations and California:

October 14, 2019
MarketWatch

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is giving childhood victims of sexual abuse more time to decide whether to file lawsuits, joining several states in expanding the statute of limitations for victims over warnings from school districts that the new rules could bankrupt them.
The law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, or five years from discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. The previous limit had been 26, or within three years from discovery of the abuse.
It also suspends the statute of limitations for three years — beginning Jan. 1 — giving victims of all ages time to bring lawsuits if they wish.

https://www.parentsformeganslaw.org/california-expands-statute-of-limitations-for-child-sexual-abuse-victims-the-new-law-will-allow-for-more-time-for-victims-to-decide-whether-to-file-lawsuits/

So the timing of the lawsuit is...timely.

[Admiral Yi]

What does "discovery of the abuse" mean? 

Like when they hypnotize people to reveal repressed memories?

[Valmy]

What does "discovery of the abuse" mean? 

Like when they hypnotize people to reveal repressed memories?

Gosh I hope it is not that nonsense.

I hope it is rather that Sometimes as a kid you just accept things that only after years later you realize were abusive or knew it was abuse but were too afraid or terrorized to do much about it for a long time.