When 30-year-old Spencer Elden was four months old, he was featured on Nirvana’s 1991 Nevermind album — the naked baby swimming towards a dollar bill. Now, Elden is suing the band for the alleged use of child pornography.
The lawsuit isn’t new, but Elden is amending it and shedding light on disturbing entries about the cover found in Kurt Cobain’s journal. According to the new filing, Loudwire explains, the journal entries allegedly contain sexual depictions of the album cover and grotesque descriptions of physically and sexually abusing infants.
This case is not only about the band members, but the photographer who captured Elden, named Kirk Weddle. Rolling Stone reports that the court filing says that Weddle allegedly “triggered Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer’s exposed genitals” and later posed the infant as Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Elden is seeking a minimum of $150,000 from each defendant.
In response to the lawsuit, Nirvana and Foo Fighters member Dave Grohl has been publicly open about changing the cover art and has mentioned having several alternate ideas. He still has his issues with the case, though, pointing out how Elden “has a Nevermind tattoo, I don’t.”