Three decades after the iconic album was released, the famous baby on its cover, Spencer Elden, files a lawsuit against the rock band, saying he was unable to consent to having his image used for the artwork.
- Aug 25, 2021
AceShowbiz - The surviving members of the band Nirvana and Kurt Cobain's estate are being sued over their 1991 album "Nevermind". Spencer Elden, the man who was featured on the album's cover when he was a baby, has filed a lawsuit against the rock band for child sexual exploitation.
Spencer filed the legal documents to the California Central District Court on Tuesday, August 24. The papers, obtained by Pitchfork, name the band's surviving members, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, along with the estate of dead frontman Kurt, production companies and photographer Kirk Weddle as defendants.
Spencer is seeking $150,000 from each of the defendants or unspecified damages to be determined at trial. In addition, he requests that "attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred" to be covered.
"Spencer's 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," the court documents read. "Neither Spencer nor his legal guardians ever signed a release authorizing the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him."
Spencer goes on to argue that the band "failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking." As a result, he "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages."
"The permanent harm he 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," the lawsuit stated. It also mentioned that Spencer's naked baby photo with his genitalia exposed has caused "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."
Though Spencer recreated the image multiple times over the years and had the word "Nevermind" tattooed on his chest, in a 2016 interview with GQ Australia, he revealed that he had recently become unhappy about the "Nevermind" artwork. "It's f**ked up," he confessed. "I'm pissed off about it, to be honest."
