Nirvana Nevermind Cover Baby Files Amended Lawsuit Against Band

Bruce Henne | 01-13-2022

Nevermind cover art

(hennemusic) The man who was photographed as a baby for the cover of Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind", has filed an amended lawsuit against the band just a week after the original case was dismissed by a federal judge in California.

According to Rolling Stone, 30-year-old Spencer Elden filed his second amended complaint late Wednesday, meeting a deadline set by Judge Fernando M. Olguin following his January 3 ruling that Elden failed to respond to a motion to dismiss filed by Nirvana and the other defendants on December 22, 2021.

Elden continues his claims that the band - as well Kurt Cobain's estate, photographer Kurt Weddle, and various record labels - "intentionally commercially marketed the child pornography depicting Spencer and leveraged the lascivious nature of his image to promote the Nevermind album, the band, and Nirvana's music, while earning, at a minimum, tens of millions of dollars in the aggregate."

The second amended complaint drops a claim related to sex trafficking; Elden's prior suit alleged that the defendants did "knowingly benefit from participation in what they know or should know is a sex trafficking venture."

In addition to noting that Elden had embraced the image by "re-enacting the photograph in exchange for a fee" multiple times and has the name of the album tattooed on his chest, Nirvana's recent legal response outlined their belief that the suit was brought years after the statute of limitations had run out according to Federal child pornography law, which has a 10-year statute that begins when a victim "reasonably discovers" the violation itself or the harm caused by it. Watch the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video here.

hennemusic is an official news provider for antiMusic.com. Copyright hennemusic - Excerpted here with permission.