"Nevermind" album cover baby sues Nirvana for child pornography

Europe 1 with AFP 7:31 p.m., August 25, 2021

The man who appears as a baby on the cover of

Nirvana's

album

, one of the most famous in rock history, filed a complaint against the group on Tuesday for child pornography, according to court documents.

Photographed in 1991 at the age of four months, Spencer Elden is shown naked in a swimming pool on the wallet, gazing peeping at a dollar bill hanging on a fish hook.

With legendary tracks like "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the album has sold over 30 million copies, becoming a benchmark in rock and pop culture.

$ 150,000 demanded from 15 defendants

At the time, neither Spencer Elden nor his parents "signed any document authorizing the use of Spencer's photographs or his image, and certainly not for the commercial exploitation of child pornography images of him." , details the complaint, consulted by AFP.

Spencer Elden never received financial compensation for this photograph and is asking for $ 150,000 in damages from each of the 15 defendants, including members of the group still alive like Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, but also from rights holders of singer Kurt Cobain, and photographer Kirk Weddle.

A cover reproduced many times

The images in question "showed in a lascivious way the genitals of Spencer, from the time when he was an infant until today", underlines the complaint, filed in California.

Spencer Elden suffered "extreme and ongoing emotional distress" as a result of the release of the footage, according to court documents.

Spokesmen for the Nirvana members and their studio have yet to comment on the complaint.

Spencer Elden has reproduced the cover photo numerous times, most notably on his 25th birthday.

Her parents had received $ 200 for the original photoshoot.