Cliff Notes – Nirvana scores major win in lawsuit over naked baby on album cover
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The lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, who claims the iconic album cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind constitutes child pornography, was dismissed for a second time by Judge Fernando Olguin, who stated no reasonable jury would find the image pornographic.
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Elden, now 34, alleges he suffered ‘lifelong damages’ from being depicted naked on the cover, seeking $150,000 from each of the defendants, including surviving band members and the photographer.
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Nirvana’s legal team expressed satisfaction with the dismissal, labelling the case as meritless and asserting that the image does not fall under child pornography statutes.
Nirvana scores major win in lawsuit over naked baby on album cover
The legal battle over Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover has had a major update (Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Nirvana’s Nevermind has one of the most iconic album artworks of the 90s — but the naked baby became the focus of a lawsuit.
The baby in question, Spencer Elden, who is now 34, filed claims that the image amounted to child pornography.
Elden, as a fourth-month-old baby, can be seen naked, swimming towards a dollar bill, which dangles on a fishhook.
The case was dismissed for a second time by Judge Fernando Olguin, who said no reasonable jury would find the image pornographic.
Judge Olguin compared the image to ‘a family photo of a nude child bathing’ rather than exploitation.
‘Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover,’ he stated that ‘nothing comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute.’
The baby, Spencer Elden, is now 34 and says it caused ‘lifelong damages’
The lawsuit was filed against Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, as well as Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, and the photographer Kirk Weddle.
Elden was suing for $150,000 (£109,000) each, alleging that he could not consent to being pictured for the artwork, and claims he has suffered ‘lifelong damages’.
Nirvana’s lawyer Bert Deixler said they were ‘delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations’.
In the original claim, filed in August 2021, lawyers alleged Nirvana ‘failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking’.
Their lawyer said they were ‘delighted’ the case was dropped (Picture: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images)
Elden’s case was dismissed, and he refiled in January 2022, with his lawyer stating the band had ‘leveraged the lascivious nature of his image.’
Taken at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California, the image has become one of the most recognisable album artworks in history.
Nevermind includes Nirvana’s biggest tracks such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are and Lithium.
The album was a massive critical and commercial success, propelling the grunge band to global stardom.
Metro has reached out to Nirvana and Elden’s teams for comment.
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