Nirvana Formal Statement Claims 'Nevermind' Baby Lawsuit Is 'Not Serious'
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Following the lawsuit filed by the baby on Nirvana's Nevermind album cover, the band has issued a statement claiming it's 'not serious'.
The image of then-newborn, Spencer Elden, naked in a pool with a dollar bill in front of him is widely viewed as a statement on capitalism.
However, now aged 30, Elden has launched legal action against the band's surviving members and Kurt Cobain's estate.
The lawsuit 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."
Billboard reports that the band have hit back with a statement of their own and write that Elden 'has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby'.
They also claim he has 're-enacted the photograph in exchange for a fee' on multiple occasions and 'used the connection to try to pick up women'.
Dismissing the claims made by the album cover star, they add: "Elden’s claim that the photograph on the Nevermind album cover is ‘child pornography’ is, on its face, not serious.
"A brief examination of the photograph, or Elden’s own conduct (not to mention the photograph’s presence in the homes of millions of Americans who, on Elden’s theory, are guilty of felony possession of child pornography) makes that clear."
On the other hand the lawsuit also states that neither Spencer nor his legal guardians ever signed a release to authorise 'the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him'.
Elden ended up suing for distribution of private sexually explicit materials and negligence.
The suit also accuses the band of a 'sex trafficking venture', claiming Elden was forced 'to engage in commercial sexual acts while under the age of 18 years old'.
The California-born man wound up on the cover of the album after photographer Kirk Weddle convinced the baby's father.
During an interview with NPR in 2008, Rick Elden explained how Weddle offered him $200 to come to a party and toss his newborn into the pool for a shoot.
"The whole thing lasted a few seconds."
He recalled: "I was like, 'What's up?' And he's like, 'Well, I'm shooting kids all this week, why don't you meet me at the Rose Bowl, throw your kid in the drink?'
"And we just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: World News
