Spencer Elden, best known as the “Nevermind Baby”, has appealed the court’s dismissal of his child pornography lawsuit against Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, and Universal Music Group. The case also includes Kirk Weddle, who photographed Elden when he was four months old for the iconic cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album, Nevermind. 

Elden filed his first lawsuit against the group in August 2021, citing that Nirvana took part in a “sex trafficking venture” by using the photo with the intent of “trigger[ing] a visceral sexual response from the viewer.” The defendants successfully filed a dismissal against the suit in December. Elden refiled a few weeks later. In September 2022, the court dismissed the case in a “final conclusion”.

As Spin reports, Elden and his attorneys have made a new filing with California’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals claiming that the judge presiding over the case ruled in error, stating that the statute of limitations applied to the case, because of Elden’s ongoing suffering due to the photo. The file also includes Masha’s Law, which allows victims of child pornography to seek monetary damages in adulthood, regardless of the statute of limitations.

The appeal reads that “courts have repeatedly held that distribution of child pornography infringes a victim’s dignity interests no matter the victim’s age at the time of distribution”. The file also alleges that frontman Kurt Cobain “described his twisted vision for the Nevermind album cover as a manifestation of his emotional and sexual disturbances” in “several journal entries.”

The appeal continues, saying that Elden “is aware that Appellees are commercially exploiting the frontal nude image of him as a four–month–old child to sell a[n] album to millions of people (many of whom he does not know) around the world. This understandably causes him extreme ongoing psychic or emotional injury for which he is entitled to damages and an injunction. Although this remedy will not rid the world of his sexualized image, it will provide him the means to get mental health treatment and give him the benefit of knowing that the distribution and repeated violation of his privacy by Appellees will finally stop.”

In 2016, Elden embraced the album artwork by recreating it for the 25th anniversary.

Filed under: Nevermind, Nevermind Baby, Nirvana