.... Elden alleges the defendants produced child pornography with the image, which features him swimming naked towards a dollar bill with his genitalia visible.
If that's child pornography, a hell of a lot of people are in possession of child pornography!
Elden, who was four months old when the image was made, says he has suffered “lifelong damages” from the 1991 album cover, including “extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations”, plus loss of education, wages, and “enjoyment of life”. The lawsuit claims the image is “sexually graphic”, and says it makes Elden resemble “a sex worker – grabbing for a dollar bill”.
Is a naked penis "sexually graphic"? The photo is framed to draw attention to the baby's penis. There's also that "sex worker" theory: The baby is portrayed as money hungry, reacting to the dollar bill that's the bait on a fishhook. But he's only trying to grab the dollar, not required to do anything sexual to get the dollar. We're asked to believe that if you do something while naked, you're doing something sexual.
It claims Elden was never paid for appearing on the cover, and that his parents never signed a release form for the image, which was shot specifically for the album cover. It has previously been reported that Elden was paid $250. Elden is seeking damages of at least $150,000 from each of the 15 defendants, plus costs, and asks that the case be tried with a jury.
Oh, pay the model! Good lord, must this poor man spend his entire life reaching out for the money you dangled in front of him? And yet, millions of people have loved the Nevermind baby, and I presume would have celebrated Elden and loved his status as former naked baby. Did he suffer? Extreme and permanent emotional distress?
In 2016, Elden... said: “Recently I’ve been thinking, ‘What if I wasn’t OK with my freaking penis being shown to everybody?’ I didn’t really have a choice.”
We are all former babies who didn't have a choice in all sorts of things — posed in all kinds of photographs — often naked. It dilutes the meaning of pornography to throw in all nudity. The great art museums are full of nudity, including the nudity of babies (notably Jesus).
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45 comments:
I'm sure his Mommy made money off of Nirvana using her baby. Maybe he should sue Mommy!! Just a few years back, he was BRAGGING about the cover. He even recreated it. Now he sees dollar signs. https://nypost.com/2016/09/23/nirvana-baby-recreates-iconic-album-cover-25-years-later/
According to Apple this kind of photo is why they need to scan all the photographs on your phone. Hint: if they can READ your file they can WRITE to your file and use it agin you.
Perhaps he should be suing his parents.
Thinking of the Led Zep album covers, which I no longer have. Can't find an image of the one with the girl in puberty with the breast "buds".
Then there is this article about actress Samantha Gates:
See the 'Houses of the Holy' Album Cover Child Models 39 Years Later
I, for one, once - and only once - dressed my firstborn son in the really idiotic and ugly sailor-suit onesie my saintly mother sent us, took a few snapshots to make grandma happy, and then donated the outfit to Goodwill. One of those pictures is proudly displayed, framed on her coffee table to this day, decades later. Exploitation or true love?
This appears to be just as kooky as the recent sexual abuse case filed against Dylan. There's a low threshold for filing these lawsuits and they give the needy plaintiffs the attention that they seem to crave.
me to this guy: oh shut up.
Same guy, still chasing the money. I'd say that the album cover had excellent predictive power.
So Elden has had a lifetime of mental distress, as people recognized him from that photo and some of the more rude among them shouted “let me see your penis”.
Payday!
'What if I wasn’t OK with my freaking penis being shown to everybody?'
Well, I hope it's changed since the photo was taken.
Instead of sending a dick pic to a potential suitor, just send her the CD.
And yet, he's recreated the image in the past (link)
I wonder why he tried to mark the anniversary then, and is so upset about it now.
Let me guess: thirty year old loser thought he could score $150,000 quick with the fashion of today. He might be right since the defense litigation cost will probably the same or more.
I'm surprised the lawsuit didn't mention something about the "violence" of Elden's trauma, or get around to "colonization."
He should have been paid for the image, but for him to tell us a baby photo is tantamount to sexual abuse is so absurd it under-cuts his obvious desire for payment.
Assume some statute of limitations explains timing. Claims would provide for joint and several liability. A single damages, collected as plaintiff chooses and available assets dictate from judgmement defendants minus settlements. Not separate damages from each defendant. Foresee personal jurisdiction issues. Did he get the right composition of band members?
I had no idea who the baby was. I never actually thought much about the album cover at all. I wonder how many people (outside of his immediate circle) knew he was that model for that album cover.
Does anyone think Nirvana would have used a model over the age of 4?
Cubanbob, I think he's asking for $150k from each of 15 people, not $150k in total.
Thinking of the Led Zep album covers, which I no longer have. Can't find an image of the one with the girl in puberty with the breast "buds".
And then there's the Blind Faith album cover. Great album, but cringe worthy cover. Difference with the Nirvana cover is that an infant is not recognizable in later life whereas a child can be.
His 15 Minutes of Fame timer just went ding.
Was it Zappa who asked, "What's the filthiest part of your body?"
("I think it's your mind.")
Anyway, guy's a greedy dick.
A Circumsision case better than never mind case.
Nirvana 30 years ago, Dylan from back in '65, etc. - did the US do away with statutes of limitations?
In a sane society, this suit gets tossed out by the first judge who reads the complaint and fines the plaintiff's lawyers for bringing to his court.
We are no longer a sane or even functioning society.
We are all victims. It is the current reality. If there is a potential pot of gold at the end of the victimhood rainbow all the better.
Ann,
The great art museums are full of nudity, including the nudity of babies (notably Jesus).
If you can show me one image of Jesus that includes his naked dick, I will reconsider your argument. I haven't found one, and this house is full of books on/of medieval and Renaissance art.
Blind Faith is another naked kid cover.
I can imagine being mortified to know that my naked baby pictures (I'm sure there are some of me) had not only been seen by those who had changed my diapers, but also by tens of millions on a rock & roll album. If I were part of the surviving members of the band, I'd seriously consider thanking him for his iconic image with a payment. But as child porn has a definition--it's really more about putting a child into sexual situations than nudity per se--I don't think it's child porn.
alan markus said...
Thinking of the Led Zep album covers, which I no longer have. Can't find an image of the one with the girl in puberty with the breast "buds".
Are you perhaps thinking of the Blind Faith album. The UK cover had a naked young lass holding a silver airplane. The US cover did not:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Faith_(Blind_Faith_album)
Discovery will be interesting
@ alan markus
You're thinking of the Blind Faith album, not Led Zeppelin.
If you start with the correct band, the album cover you seek is easy to find.
This is the result of more people googling 'reparation'.
We are all former babies who didn't have a choice in all sorts of things — posed in all kinds of photographs — often naked. It dilutes the meaning of pornography to throw in all nudity. The great art museums are full of nudity, including the nudity of babies (notably Jesus).
Exactly. We are all former babies and hopefully some of us grow up.
"Recently I've been thinking" says it all
'If you can show me one image of Jesus that includes his naked dick, I will reconsider your argument. I haven't found one, and this house is full of books on/of medieval and Renaissance art.'
While not common (Jesus is usually shown either artfully posed or covered), there are plenty.
The internet is your friend sometimes...
Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album cover featured a naked boy and girl climbing up the giants causeway in northern Ireland. Columnar Basalt.
Nope nope, nope. Spencer Elden or Alden has been using the copyrighted image for many years for his own purposes. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/iconic-nirvana-nevermind-baby-cover-recreated-671495
'And yet, millions of people have loved the Nevermind baby, and I presume would have celebrated Elden and loved his status as former naked baby.'
He could have made hay out of this...the pickup line writes itself:
Takes the CD out of his pocket and shows it to a prospective date.
Then says, 'Want to see it now?'
Michelle Dulak Thomson- The Circumcision of Christ
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Circumcision_of_Christ_LACMA_53.28.18.jpg
Self-serving Streisand effect.
Seen one baby penis, seen 'em all.
Sydney, thanks. I imagine that all depictions of the circumcision will, um, feature the part in question.
At least he can say... I was in the pool! I was in the pool!
Meanwhile, Heather DeLoach, who was the 9-year-old tap-dancing "bee girl" in Blind Melon's music video for the song "No Rain" (released around the same time), has by all accounts been enjoying her fame her entire life. (The character was inspired by the album-cover photo, an old picture of the drummer's little sister in a school play.) She's appeared on a number of TV shows, and even danced in the costume again for a "Weird Al" video.
'At least he can say... I was in the pool! I was in the pool!'
Winner : )
Aren't those of us who have been traumatized by viewing this child pornography due some compensation also? Doesn't Elden owe me for exposing himself in public?
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