Spencer Elden, the man who was photographed as a nude, four-month-old baby and pictured on the cover of Nirvana‘s Nevermind album, is now suing the band for child sexual exploitation and also claims that the image is deemed child pornography.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in the Central District of California “for damages arising out of each of the Defendant’s violations of federal criminal child pornography statutes,” per court documents that were uploaded to Scribd by Pitchfork News.
Elden, who posed for photos in 2016 to recreate the album cover for its 25th anniversary, is being represented by Robert Y. Lewis of Marsh Law Firm PLLC, an attorney who specializes in the areas of child pornography, crime victim’s rights, criminal restitution, copyright and Title IX.
The totality of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit include Nirvana LLC, Universal Music Group, Inc., The David Geffen Company, Geffen Records, Warner Records, Inc., MCA Music, Inc., Kirk Weddle, Kurt Cobain (deceased), Courtney Love (as executor of the Estate of Kurt Cobain), Heather Parry (as manager of the Estate of Kurt Cobain), Gus Oseary (as manager of the Estate of Kurt Cobain), Krist Novoselic, Chad Channing, Dave Grohl and Robert Fisher.
Elden is seeking to recover $150,000 in addition to the cost of the action of the lawsuit, which includes attorney’s fees and other costs. “The Court may also award punitive damages and grant such other preliminary and equitable relief as the Court determines to be appropriate,” states the documents.
The papers also note that the band and its affiliates knowingly produced “child pornography” by using the image of Elden seen on the cover of the landmark 1991 record and had intent to distribute it internationally and receive value in return and that no steps were taken to prevent “widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking.”
The album covers of Scorpions‘ Virgin Killer, Blind Faith‘s self-titled album and Van Halen‘s Balance were also used as a point of reference to other instances where “sexually explicit material depicting a child or outright child pornography” were used in concept and creation of “controversial campaigns” used as a vehicle for promotion.
It is alleged that neither Elden nor his legal guardians signed a release authorizing the use of the images taken during the photo shoot that resulted in the Nevermind cover art. Cobain is also said to have agreed to partially cover up the nudity on the photograph with intentions to place a sticker over the genitals that read, “If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile,” but the sticker was never applied to the cover.
“The permanent harm [Elden] has proximately suffered includes but is not limited to extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter,” states a portion of the lawsuit.
Read the full 35-page lawsuit here.
Nevermind was released on Sept. 24, 1991, and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.