It’s an album cover that has been around the world and that almost everyone remembers. But which obviously did not make anyone happy. A California judge has dismissed a child pornography lawsuit filed by the baby-turned-adult who appears naked on the cover of Nirvana’s legendary 1991 album “Nevermind,” a court document dated Friday shows. Los Angeles Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed the complaint, including on statute of limitations, according to the document.
At the end of August 2021, a month before the 30th anniversary of the release of the album, Spencer Elden, now thirty, had filed a first complaint, followed by a second in January 2022 after a first rejection for other reasons, in claiming to be a victim of “commercial exploitation of images of a child pornography nature”.
He demanded $150,000
Photographed in 1991 at the age of four months, Spencer Elden appears naked in a swimming pool on the cover of Nevermind, the gaze eyeing a dollar bill on a hook. With legendary titles like Smells Like Teen Spirit, the cult album sold more than 30 million copies, becoming a rock reference.
The plaintiff, who said he never received financial compensation for the photo and assured that his parents had not given permission to use his image in this way, claimed 150,000 dollars in damages from each of 15 people he was suing, including former Nirvana members, Kurt Cobain’s executor, Courtney Love, and photographer, Kirk Weddle.
In a memorandum responding to the complaint and filed, their attorneys argued instead that “Elden has spent three decades enjoying his stardom as a nirvana baby self-proclaimed”. “He remade the photo in exchange for remuneration on numerous occasions; he got the title of the album tattooed Nevermind on the chest (…) he autographed copies of the album cover to sell on eBay and he used this link to try to flirt with women”, they listed.