The now grown up baby from Nirvana's album cover is suing the band
The baby who appeared on the famous Nirvana album cover in 1991 is now suing the band.
Spencer Elden, who is now 30 years old, is suing surviving Nirvana band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, as well as Kurt Cobain's estate for allegedly violating federal child pornography statutes and child sexual exploitation.
The lawsuit also names the photographer who snapped the image, Kirk Weddlem and the labels behind the release fo the album.
Spencer was photographed naked as a child for the band's most iconic album cover, and is now claiming his legal guardians never signed a release “authorising the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him.”
Spencer claims he has suffered “lifelong damages” and is also suing for distribution of private sexually explicit materials and negligence.
The famous album cover was snapped by chance, as Spencer's father Rick was a good friend of the photographer.
Nick spoke to NPR in 2008 and said, “[Weddle] calls us up and was like, ‘Hey Rick, wanna make 200 bucks and throw your kid in the drink.”
The image, which shows a baby Spencer in the pool diving after a $1 note, quickly became an iconic image and Spencer has recreated the album cover several times to celebrate anniversaries of the release.
The lawsuit filed by Spencer states, “The permanent harm he has proximately suffered includes but is not limited to extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter.”
Image credits: Shutterstock