Baby on Nevermind album cover sues Nirvana over child pornography

Spencer Elden, who appeared as a four-month-old on one of the most recognisable album covers of all time, “Nevermind” by Nirvana, sues the band for alleged child pornography. The cover shows Elden swimming underwater trying to get his hand on a dollar bill that was dangled in front of him on a fishing line. 

30 years after the album was released, Elden on 23 August filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Central District of California, accussing Nirvana of violating federal child pornography laws in using the image and is asking the court for a trial by jury. 

The legal papers claimed that the image exposed Spencer's intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer's genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day.

Elden’s lawyer, Robert Y. Lewis also argues that the inclusion of the dollar bill makes the minor seem “like a sex worker”. It is also stated that the band once promised to censor Elden’s genitals, but failed to uphold it. 

Moreover, he alleges that 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”. 

Elden further revealed that both him and his parents never signed any paperwork which allows any use of the image. He shared that they were never compensated for the photo other than the $200 his parents were paid for it on the day of the shoot.

Elden is seeking at least $150,000 in damages from each of the 15 defendants, including 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.

Elden has recreated the photo more than once, and the most recent was for the album’s 25th anniversary back in 2016. At that time, he even considered going nude, but the photographer thought it would be weird. 

Elden had also expressed mixed feelings about the album cover and said he “got a little upset” about his notoriety as he grew older, saying “it is a weird thing to get his head around, being part of such a culturally iconic image”. However, he said that it is also a positive thing that has opened doors for him, especially for work opportunities, as he’s working as an artist. He also never called the image child pornography before.