Key Takeaways:
- Nirvana’s surviving members want a judge to dismiss a lawsuit over their most iconic album cover.
Spencer Elden, whose baby photo appears on the cover of Nevermind, sued the former grunge band earlier this year for alleged “commercial child sexual exploitation.”
According to Billboard, in a new filing on Wednesday, the company argues that Elden’s claims are without merit and that the statute of limitations has passed.
Elden, according to the band’s attorney, “has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby.'” He has many times re-enacted the photograph for a fee; he has the album title ‘Nevermind’ tattooed across his chest; and he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie.
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He’s sold autographed copies of the album cover on eBay, and he’s used the connection to try to meet women.”
“Elden has alleged no facts about any barriers outside his control that prevented him from asserting a timely claim, and cannot plausibly allege any such facts to warrant tolling of the statute from 1995 to the time of filing, even if he were given leave to amend,” the lawyer said. Elden’s failure to file a sex trafficking claim within the statute of limitations bars it now, to the extent that it is not already dead on arrival.”
“Nirvana and UMG’s motion to discharge focuses on their past conduct or ignores their ongoing distribution, particularlywith the 30-year Nevermind anniversary and profit margins,” Elden said in a statement to Spin magazine.
Child pornography is a “forever crime” any allocation or profit made from any sexually explicit image of a child not only creates long-term liability, but also causes lifelong trauma. This is true for all of our clients who have been victims of actively traded child pornography, regardless of how old the image is.”
Source: etcanada
