MOST people would be honoured to have a picture of themselves on an all-time best selling band’s album. 30-year-old Spencer Elden went the other direction, and filed a lawsuit against alternative rock band Nirvana.
Pictured as a naked baby on the band’s Nevermind album, Elden said that it has caused him “extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations”, along with loss of education, wages and “enjoyment of life”.
The lawsuit was filed on the grounds of sexual exploitation and child pornography.
In what has been described by Nirvana as an “absurd” cash grab, the band’s surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain’s widow and executor, and Kirk Weddle, photographer of the image, pointed out that Elden had enjoyed profiting from his status as the “Nirvana Baby”, even going so far as to getting a chest tattoo of the album’s title.
It also did not seem like a disagreement or an involuntary act when Elden recreated the image on the album’s 10th, 15th and 25th anniversaries. He has been quoted saying: “Stuff happens like random cool situations where I get paid US$500 (RM2,095) just to go hang out.”
Robert Y. Lewis, his lawyer, argued that the baby was made to appear like a sex worker because of the dollar bill in the image. The claims also stated that Elden’s parents did not sign any releases that “authorised the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him”.
Rick Elden, his father, said that they received US$200 (RM838) to throw 4-month-old Spencer into a pool for “half a second”.
Elden is seeking damages in the form of US$150,000 (RM628,575) from each of the listed defendants in the suit, including attorney fees and requested that the iconic artwork be changed for all future releases of Nevermind.
Lawyers representing the accused have argued that the statute of limitations on Elden’s claims had expired in 2011 – meaning he is 10 years too late to sue.
Federal Judge Fernando M. Olguin dismissed the case “with leave to amend” on Monday when Elden missed his Dec 30, 2021 deadline to file a response to Nirvana’s motion to dismiss. This means that Elden and his lawyers have until Jan 13, 2022 to refile the case, and if he misses this deadline, it will be dismissed without prejudice and closed, in which case it will be “Nevermind” indeed.