Nirvana released their second studio album three decades ago with an iconic cover, a naked baby in a pool being lured by a dollar bill. The man who appeared on the cover in the role of a child is now requesting that the cover art be permanently changed.
Spencer Elden, who is now 30, filed a lawsuit against the band last month after claiming he has suffered “lifelong damages” from Nirvana knowingly producing “commercial child pornography” with the 1991 album cover. Elden is requesting his genitalia be removed from “all future album covers” on the 30th anniversary of the project.
“Today, like each year on this date, our client Spencer Elden has had to brace himself for renewed unwanted attention from the media and fans alike throughout the world,” USA TODAY obtained a release from his attorneys. “This is a choice that he has never had.”
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USA TODAY reached out to reps for Nirvana for comment.
Elden previously recreated the cover to celebrate the 15th and 25th anniversaries of the album’s release. In 2016, he told The New York Post he volunteered to do his latest iteration of the cover naked, but the photographer “thought that would be weird.”
Attorneys for Elden said in the release that they plan on continuing the legal proceedings in order to “bring long-awaited privacy and dignity back to our client.”
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“We implore the Nirvana defendants to right the wrongs of their past, by acknowledging the harm they have perpetrated and redacting the image of Mr. Elden’s genitalia from further reproductions of ‘Nevermind’ because behind every cover is a person pleading for their privacy back,” it adds.
Photographer Kirk Weddle who was tasked with shooting the cover photo and was friends with Elden’s parents asked if their 4-month-old baby could be part of the shoot.
His parents were paid $200, he said. To date, the album has sold more than 30 million copies, according to the lawsuit, which also claims neither Elden nor his parents ever signed a release authorizing his images.
“It’s only opened doors for me and been a really positive, fun experience,” he told USA TODAY in 2015.
