He also claims that he "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages" as a result of the artwork, from "extreme and permanent emotional distress" to "interference with his normal development and educational progress" and "medical and psychological treatment.” It has been said that his “true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day.” Lewis makes the case that the inclusion of a superimposed dollar bill makes the child appear "like a sex worker.”Įlden has shared the longterm impact the LP cover has had on his sense of self. Whilst non-sexualised images of infants are generally not considered child pornography under US law, Elden’s lawyer Robert Y. They add that the band had promised to conceal Elden’s genitals with a sticker, yet they did not follow through. The legal papers claim that "the images exposed Spencer's intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer's genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day.” He has also alleged that the nude image constitutes child pornography. Read this next: Cheeky humour and niche references: DJ Sotofett on his favourite rave flyers and artwork Now 30, Elden has come forward to say that his parents did not sign a release authorising the use of his image on the 1991 record. The renowned cover depicts Elden at four months old, reaching for a dollar bill on a fishing line whilst swimming nude in a pool. But he has always maintained the only compensation he ever got was the $200 that Weddle paid his parents for the photo shoot, despite his attempts to contact Grohl, Novoselic, and others, about the issue.Įlden told Time magazine in 2016, for Nevermind's 25th anniversary, that "it's hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved," and when "I go to a baseball game and think about it: 'Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,' I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked.Spencer Elden, who featured on the album artwork for Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, is suing the band on the grounds of alleged sexual exploitation. "Defendants used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews," says Elden's lawsuit, filed in federal court in California.Įlden has recreated his cover shot, with swim trunks on, for various anniversaries of Nevermind's release, and he has the album logo tattooed on his chest. "Non-sexualized nude photos of infants are generally not considered child pornography under law." Elden's lawyer claims in the lawsuit that the addition of the dollar bill makes naked baby Elden look "like a sex worker." "The image has generally been understood as a statement on capitalism, as it includes the digital imposition of a dollar bill on a fishhook that the baby appears to be enthusiastically swimming toward," Variety reports. Elden is seeking at least $150,000 from each defendant.