30 years ago his baby picture went around the world on the cover of Nirvana’s album “Nevermind”. Now Spencer Elden has sued the band and accuses them of child pornography. –
It is one of those iconic album covers that every music fan in the world knows: “Nevermind” by Nirvana and the naked baby with the dollar bill in the pool. It previously brought world hits like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come as You Are”. But there is one person who cannot share the enthusiasm for the cover: Spencer Elden, the “Nevermind” baby.
Nevermind Baby: Spencer Elden sues Nirvana
The 30-year-old filed a lawsuit in court on Tuesday. The accusation: The cover is child pornography. When it was published, the picture for “Nevermind” was understood as a critique of capitalism. The baby swims in the water towards a dollar bill hanging on a fishing rod. Elden’s attorney, Robert Y. Lewis, made it clear in the lawsuit that the cult photo could be interpreted differently. For him, the banknote is synonymous with sex work – and therefore child pornography.
“The defendants deliberately marketed Spencer’s child pornography commercially and exploited the shocking nature of his image to advertise themselves and their music at his expense,” says the lawsuit, from which the magazine “Variety” quotes. “Defendants used child pornography featuring Spencer as an essential element of an attention-grabbing scheme in the music industry, with album covers depicting children in sexually suggestive ways to gain notoriety, sales and attention to attract the media and critical reviews, “so on.
He got $ 200
Elden is demanding $ 150,000 from anyone who benefited from the album cover, including surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic.
The lawsuit should surprise many, after all, Elden himself often pointed out in recent years that he was the “Nevermind” baby. Occasionally he even recreated the photo. In 2016, he told the New York Post: “The anniversary means something to me. It’s strange that I did this for five minutes when I was four months old and it became this really iconic image. It’s cool, but strange to be part of something so important that I can’t even remember. “
However, Elden stated more often that the only compensation his parents received on the day of the photo shoot was $ 200. “Neither Spencer nor his legal guardians have ever signed a release that allows the use of pictures of Spencer or his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography that shows him,” the lawsuit now reads.
Allegations to the photographer
The lawsuit also criticizes the role of photographer Kirk Weddle. “Weddle took a number of sexually illustrative nude photos of Spencer. To ensure that the album cover evoked a sexual response in the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses that highlighted and emphasized Spencer’s bare genitals. [Kurt] Cobain chose the picture of Spencer – like a sex worker – reaching for a dollar bill dangling from a fishing hook in front of his bare body, showing his penis clearly, “it says.
Allegedly, Cobain insisted on taking a picture of Elden’s penis, despite the fact that the record company had expressed doubts about it.
Elden told “Time” magazine in the course of the 25th album anniversary that he sometimes felt anger when he thought of the cover. “It’s hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved. [Wenn] I go to a baseball game and think about it, ‘Man, everyone at that baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,’ I feel like I’ve been deprived of some of my human rights, “Elden said at the time.
Sources used: /
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