A California judge has dismissed a child pornography lawsuit brought by the grown baby, who is seen nude on the cover of Nirvana’s legendary 1991 album Nevermind, a court document showed on Friday.
According to the document, Judge Fernando Olguin of Los Angeles dismissed the lawsuit, primarily because of the statute of limitations.
At the end of August 2021, a month before the 30th anniversary of the album’s release, Spencer Elden, now thirty, had filed a first complaint, which was followed in January 2022, after a first rejection on other grounds, by a second victim of a “commercial exploitation of images containing child pornography character”.
Spencer Elden was photographed in 1991 at four months old appearing nude in a swimming pool on the cover of Nevermind, gazing at a dollar bill on a hook. With legendary tracks like Smells Like Teen Spirit, the cult album sold more than 30 million copies and became a rock reference.
The plaintiff, who said he never received monetary compensation for the photo and asserted that his parents did not give permission for his image to be used in this way, is seeking $150,000 in damages from each of the 15 people he is suing, including former Nirvana members. Kurt Cobain’s executor Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle.
To the contrary, in a memorandum responding to and filed with the complaint, their attorneys argued that “Elden has spent three decades basking in his fame as the self-proclaimed +Baby Nirvana+”.
“He has retaken the photograph on numerous occasions for a fee; he got the album title +Nevermind+ tattooed on his chest (…) he autographed copies of the album cover to sell on eBay and he used this link to try to flirt with women,” they listed.