Nirvana has defeated the lawsuit lodged against them which alleged child sexual abuse on the 1991 album cover, Nevermind. US District Judge Fernando Olguin would toss the lawsuit after finding no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.
Nirvana has defeated the lawsuit lodged against them by Spencer Elden, who was photographed as a baby and put on the cover of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind. Elden has attempted to sue the band twice, claiming the photograph constituted child sexual abuse.
As Billboard would report, US District Judge Fernando Olguin has tossed out the lawsuit filed by Elden after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.
“Other than the fact [that] the plaintiff was nude on the album cover,” nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” Olguin said.
Judge Olguin also wrote that it was difficult to reconcile Elden’s actions with his claim that the image was child sex abuse imagery.
Over the years, Elden had financially benefited from being featured on the album, the judge said. In one instance, Elden had been paid to re-enact the photo and had sold autographed album-related posters and memorabilia. The plaintiff had also referred to himself as the “Nirvana baby” and that he even had the album’s name tattooed across his chest.
Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.” The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, and photographer Kirk Weddle.
Elden first filed a federal lawsuit in 2021, accusing the band and its record label of having profited off his naked image and of having knowingly produced, possessed and advertised commercial child sex abuse imagery depicting him. The lawsuit would be dismissed twice – the first time due to Elden’s lawyers missing a deadline, and a second time in 2022 after Olguin found that Elden’s claims were time-barred without addressing the substance of his allegations. The 9th Circuit would, however, reverse that decision in 2023 after the album had been reissued in 2021, finding that they could constitute a new personal injury.
Elden would share his thoughts on the album cover in an interview with GQ Australia, saying, “I’m pissed off about it, to be honest.”
“Recently I’ve been thinking, ‘What if I wasn’t OK with my freaking penis being shown to everybody?’ I didn’t really have a choice,” Elden said.
He would then admit to the catalyst of his changing perspective. After inviting Nirvana to participate in his art show, he was only referred to their managers and lawyers. “Why am I still on their cover if I’m not that big of a deal?”
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