{"id":184292,"date":"2025-10-02T05:30:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184292\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T05:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:30:03","slug":"lawsuit-over-nirvana-album-art-featuring-naked-baby-thrown-out-for-a-second-time-ents-arts-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184292\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit over Nirvana album art featuring naked baby thrown out for a second time | Ents & Arts News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lawsuit against Nirvana – filed by a man who claimed his depiction as a naked four-month-old baby on their album cover was child pornography – has been dismissed for the second time.<\/p>\n

A photo of Spencer Elden swimming towards a dollar bill on a fishhook had appeared on the cover of the rock band’s iconic album Nevermind in 1991.<\/p>\n

But Judge Fernando Olguin threw out the case after ruling that no reasonable jury would consider the image pornographic, likening it instead to a “family photo of a nude child bathing”.<\/p>\n

“Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover, nothing comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Nirvana's<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic in August 1991. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

Elden’s legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Nirvana’s lawyer Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations”.<\/p>\n

The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, and photographer Kirk Weddle.<\/p>\n

The photo was taken at the Pasadena Aquatic Centre in California.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Broadway stars ready to strike<\/a>
JK Rowling hits out at Emma Watson in fresh clash<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Nirvana<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Nirvana performs live in 1991. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

Mr Elden first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him through the image and causing ongoing personal harm.<\/p>\n

Judge Olguin initially dismissed the case in 2022<\/a> on the grounds that Elden’s claims were time barred, without addressing the substance of the allegations. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In a 2003 Rolling Stone interview when he was 12, Elden acknowledged the photo and said he was “probably gonna get some money from it”.<\/p>\n

However, in his August 2021 lawsuit, Elden argued that his injuries – including emotional distress, lost earning potential, and diminished enjoyment of life – extended into adulthood, allowing him to meet the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n

The judge dismissed this claim, stating it would effectively allow Elden to sue Nirvana indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Nevermind, which features the hit song Smells Like Teen Spirit, has sold over 30 million copies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lawsuit against Nirvana – filed by a man who claimed his depiction as a naked four-month-old baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-184292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}