A lawsuit from Spencer Elden, who as a baby was featured on the iconic Nirvana album, “Nevermind,” was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin. The judge said Elden waited too long to make his claim..
According to a recent report from Spin, Elden is back with an appeal claiming the judge’s ruling was made in error. Elden’s suit alleges that his “suffering is ongoing” from being featured naked on the album cover.
“[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,” reads a portion of the appeal.
“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.”
Elden has a “Nevermind” tattoo, and Nirvana also previously said he has “spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby.’”
Elden previously expressed both approval and dismay about being associated with the album cover. As recently as 2016, he recreated the pose and album art in a photoshoot. He changed his tune in the lead up to the album’s 30th anniversary saying that being on the cover has caused him “permanent harm.”
