The man famously depicted on Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover when he was a baby is taking legal action against the band on alleged child pornography charges.
According to documents obtained by Pitchfork, 30-year-old Spencer Elden filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court against the band on Tuesday, August 24, alleging that the image displayed his genitals without his consent.
Elden further claims neither he nor his legal guardians signed a release authorizing the use of his image as a fourth-month-old baby on the cover, and that Cobain had promised to cover his crotch with a warning sticker.
He is now seeking damages from the remaining members of the band, Kurt Cobain's estate, and from photographer Kirk Weddle, who took the original image.
The lawsuit states that Elden suffered "extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress lifelong loss of income earning capacity."
It also states that Elden has endured "loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life," as well as "other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter."
Elden, who was the son of a friend of Weddle, had previously recreated the front cover shot for photographers for the album's 10th, 17th and 25th anniversaries.
Per New York Post, Elden originally wanted to do the 25th-anniversary shoot nude as a tribute to the original cover, but his photographer specified that he wore swim shorts.
He told New York Post back in 2016 that: "The anniversary means something to me. It’s strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image.
"It's cool but weird to be part of something so important that I don't even remember."
However, in a 2016 interview with GQ Australia, Elden appeared to display far more antipathy towards the artwork and the part he played in its creation, stating: "It’s f***ed up. I’m p*ssed off about it, to be honest."
