The Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ lawsuit brought forth by Spencer Elden, the now-grown man who appeared on the cover of the landmark 1991 album when he was a baby, is finally over.
Per Billboard, the alleged child pornography lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge on September 2, which was a refiling of his initial lawsuit.
As previously reported, Elden was suing the band and other parties (including Courtney Love) on child pornography charges related to appearing on the Nevermind cover naked. The lawsuit stated, in part, “Defendants knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer, and they knowingly received value in exchange for doing so…Despite this knowledge, Defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking.”
In December 2021, Nirvana’s legal team moved to dismiss the lawsuit citing a number of damming points against Elden’s claims including, “Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby.’ He has re-enacted the photograph in exchange for a fee, many times; he has had the album title ‘Nevermind’ tattooed across his chest; he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie; he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay; and he has used the connection to try to pick up women.” The lawsuit was dismissed in January, with Elden refiling the lawsuit just days later.
Billboard reports Judge Fernando M. Olguin ruled on September 2 that Elden’s case “was filed well past the statute of limitations for such cases.” The outlet noted, “Federal child pornography laws have a 10-year time limit that starts from when a victim ‘reasonably discovers’ either the crime or the injury caused by it. Under either time limit, Judge Olguin said Elden had clearly filed his case too late.”
