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naked baby on nirvana's 'nevermind' album cover

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Naked 'Nevermind' baby sues Nirvana for 'child pornography'

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Spencer Elden, who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind," has claimed the record's iconic artwork is child pornography and is suing the band over alleged "child sexual exploitation."

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Kurt Weddle, "Nevermind" photographer.
Modern Rocks Gallery's exclusive draft photos

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On October 28, 1991, just as Nirvana were tearing up the rock'n'roll rule book with their major label debut Nevermind, Austin resident and one of the industries leading underwater photographers, Kirk Weddle, was commissioned to shoot the band for photos to promote the impending blitz. His idea? Toss the band into a swimming pool to mimic the album's infamous naked baby cover image he'd shot a few months earlier. Modern Rocks Gallery proudly has the exclusive on these incredible images.

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Kirk Weddle Photographer - Buy Signed Limited Edition Prints

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Modern Rocks Gallery showcases fine art rock photography by photographer Kirk Weddle available for purchase as signed limited edition photographs online now. Buy fine art prints from the exclusive collection of Nirvana Nevermind outtakes. Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-elden-07542aaa

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Spencer Elden - Los Angeles, California, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

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View Spencer Elden's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Spencer has 1 job listed on their profile. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Spencer's connections and jobs at similar companies.

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etaskre@gmail.com

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Looking for info on Spencer K. Elden? Find the latest phone number, email address, home address and more ThatsThem for free.

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naked baby on nirvana's 'nevermind' album cover

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Naked 'Nevermind' baby sues Nirvana for 'child pornography'

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Spencer Elden, who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind," has claimed the record's iconic artwork is child pornography and is suing the band over alleged "child sexual exploitation."

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Looking for info on Spencer Elden? Find the latest phone number, email address, home address and more ThatsThem for free.

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Spencer Elden - Los Angeles, California, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

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View Spencer Elden's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Spencer has 1 job listed on their profile. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Spencer's connections and jobs at similar companies.

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Spencer Elden, the man who was photographed as a baby on the album cover for Nirvana's Nevermind, is suing the band alleging sexual exploitation.

The cover depicts Elden as a four-month-old in a swimming pool, grasping for a dollar bill that's being dangled in front of him on a fishing line.

Now 30, Elden says his parents never signed a release authorising the use of his image on the album.

He also alleges the nude image constitutes child pornography.

"The images exposed Spencer's intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer's genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day," legal papers filed in California claim.

Non-sexualised photos of infants are generally not considered child pornography under US law.

However, Elden's lawyer, Robert Y. Lewis, argues that the inclusion of the dollar bill (which was superimposed after the photograph was taken) makes the minor seem "like a sex worker".

The legal case also alleges that Nirvana had promised to cover Elden's genitals with a sticker, but the agreement was not upheld.

Elden alleges his "true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day".

He claims he "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages" as a result of the artwork, including "extreme and permanent emotional distress" as well as "interference with his normal development and educational progress" and "medical and psychological treatment".

He is asking for damages of at least $150,000 (£109,000) from each of the 15 defendants, who include surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic; the managers of Kurt Cobain's estate; Cobain's former wife Courtney Love; and photographer Kirk Weddle.

Representatives for Nirvana and their record labels have yet to respond to the claims.

Elden has recreated the album cover several times as a teenager and adult - always wearing swimming trunks - to mark Nevermind's 10th, 20th and 25th anniversaries.

However, he has sometimes expressed ambivalence about the photoshoot. In 2016, he told Time Magazine that he "got a little upset" about his notoriety as he grew older.

"I just woke up already being a part of this huge project," he said. "It's pretty difficult - you feel like you're famous for nothing.

"It's hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved," he continued. "[When] I go to a baseball game and think about it: 'Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,' I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked."

In other interviews, he has been more upbeat about the image.

"It's always been a positive thing and opened doors for me," he told the Guardian six years ago. "I'm 23 now and an artist, and this story gave me an opportunity to work with Shepard Fairey for five years, which was an awesome experience. He is a huge music connoisseur: when he heard I was the Nirvana baby, he thought that was really cool."

In 2008, Spencer's father Rick recounted the photo shoot to US radio network NPR, saying he had been offered $200 to take part by Weddle, who was a family friend.

"We just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"

The family quickly forgot the photoshoot until, three months later, they saw the Nevermind album cover blown up on the wall of Tower Records in Los Angeles.

Two months after that, NPR's article said, "Geffen Records sent 1-year-old Spencer Elden a platinum album and a teddy bear".

The album, which included the hits Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are and Lithium, went on to sell 30 million copies around the world.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Weddle said he was still in contact with Elden, and acknowledged he was "conflicted about the picture".

"He feels that everybody made money off it and he didn't," the photographer said. "I think he deserves something. But it's always the record labels that make the money."

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Nirvana sued by the baby from Nevermind's album cover

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Spencer Elden, the man who was photographed as a baby on the album cover for Nirvana's Nevermind, is suing the band alleging sexual exploitation. The cover depicts Elden as a four-month-old in a swimming pool, grasping for a dollar bill that's being dangled in front of him on a fishing line.

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Whether you're a fan of Nirvana or not, chances are that you're familiar with the cover of their Nevermind album. It's the one with a naked baby chasing a dollar in a swimming pool, and a reader's poll for Rolling Stone magazine rated it as the third most iconic cover of all time.

Well believe it or not, that little baby - named Spencer Elden - is now 25 years old, and in homage to the album's quarter century anniversary, he recently decided to recreate the pose that made him famous. He wanted to do it "au naturel" in order to stay true to the original, but the photographer John Chapple fortunately talked him out of it and convinced him to wear shorts for the shoot. Chapple paid him $200, which is exactly what Elden's parents were paid for Spencer's involvement in the Nevermind cover, but it's not so much about the money as it is about honoring what is arguably the defining album of the grunge movement.

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Baby From Nirvana's Album Cover Recreates Iconic Photograph 25 Years Later

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Whether you're a fan of Nirvana or not, chances are that you're familiar with the cover of their Nevermind album. It's the one with a naked baby chasing a dollar in a swimming pool, and a reader's poll for Rolling Stone magazine rated it as the third most iconic cover of all time.

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https://www.whitepages.com/name/Elden-Spencer/Los-Angeles-CA/PE3EqNwnBw3

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Spencer Elden, the naked baby who graced the cover of Nirvana's iconic album "Nevermind," is suing the band and several others for sexual exploitation, claiming that he is a victim of child pornography.

Elden, now 30, is suing the defendants for at least $150,000 each, according to the suit obtained by MarketWatch.

The suit, filed Tuesday in California's Central District Court, names Nirvana, LLC; surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic; Courtney Love, as executor of Kurt Cobain's estate; two managers of Cobain's estate; Kirk Weddle, the photographer who took the picture; Robert Fisher, who was hired to design the album artwork; and several record companies that released or distributed the album. Strangely, Chad Channing, the band's drummer from 1980-1990, is also named, even though he left the band before the album was recorded or the artwork was chosen.

Weddle took the photo of Elden in 1991, when he was 4 months old, and paid Elden's parents just $200 for the shoot. The suit says that neither Elden nor his legal guardians ever signed a release for the image. Elden has said that he hasn't received any further compensation for the photo.

Elden has expressed mixed emotions about the album cover photo, telling NPR in 2008, "Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis, so that's kinda cool. I'm just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I'm here." He expressed a different view In 2016, when he said that "it's f-ed up" and that he was "pissed off" that people still talk about it. Just a few weeks later, he told the New York Post: "The [25th] anniversary means something to me. It's strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image."

Despite his conflicting feelings, Elden has recreated the photograph - while wearing trunks - to celebrate the record's 10th, 17th, 20th and 25th anniversaries.

The original album artwork features an underwater picture of Elden floating nude in a pool, chasing a digitally imposed dollar bill attached to a fish hook.

"To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer's 'gag reflex' before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer's exposed genitals," the lawsuit claims. "Cobain chose the image depicting Spencer - like a sex worker - grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed."

Robert Y. Lewis, Elden's lawyer, writes in the suit that Elden has suffered greatly from the image and its wide circulation, including interference in developmental and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life. The band sold and profited from more than 30 million copies of "Nevermind," according to the filing.

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The naked baby on Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album cover is now 30 and suing for 'sexual exploitation'

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Spencer Elden, the naked baby who graced the cover of Nirvana's iconic album "Nevermind," is suing the band and several others for sexual exploitation, claiming that he is a victim of child pornography. Elden, now 30, is suing the defendants for at least $150,000 each, according to the suit obtained by MarketWatch.

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this is his Facebook

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he is a model from LA

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Looking for info on Spencer Elden? Find the latest phone number, email address, home address and more ThatsThem for free.

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Spencer Elden is his name !

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The man who was photographed naked underwater as a baby and later ended up on Nirvana's iconic "Nevermind" album cover filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging he was a victim of child pornography.

The album cover shows Spencer Elden, now 30, in a swimming pool as a then-infant with his penis exposed.

The image used for the cover of Nirvana's sophomore 1991 album includes a digital imposition of a dollar bill on a fishhook that the baby looks like he is trying to grab. The cover was widely considered a rebuke of capitalism.

Nonsexualized nude photos of infants are generally not considered child pornography under law. But Elden's lawyer, Robert Y. Lewis, alleges the inclusion of currency in the shot makes the baby appear "like a sex worker."
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Kurt Cobain "chose the image depicting Spencer-like a sex worker- grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed," the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, stated.

Elden is asking for at least $150,000 from each of the defendants, who include include surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic; Courtney Love, the executor of Cobain's estate; Guy Oseary and Heather Parry, managers of Cobain's estate; photographer Kirk Weddle; art director Robert Fisher; and a number of existing or defunct record companies that released or distributed the album in the last three decades.

Original Nirvana drummer Chad Channing is also named as a defendant, even though he had been replaced by Grohl in 1990, before the album was recorded or the cover photography shot.

Entertainment Weekly reported in 1992 that Elden, at 4 months old, was cast for the shoot along with three other babies. Cobain commissioned the shoot after he had seen a documentary on babies being born underwater and "thought the image would make a cool cover," Fisher told the magazine at the time. "That vision was a bit too graphic, so we went with the swimming baby instead."

Weddle took the pictures in an Olympic-size pool at the Pasadena aquatic center in California.

"Weddle took a series of sexually graphic nude photographs of Spencer," the suit said. "To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer's 'gag reflex' before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer's exposed genitals."

"Weddle produced these sexually graphic images with the goal of enhancing and increasing the commercial success of Nirvana, L.L.C.'s Nevermind album," the suit said.

The album was selling about 300,000 copies a week when it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 in early 1992. The album, with classics "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as You Are," has spent at least 335 total weeks on the Billboard 200.

The cover image did receive pushback, at which point Cobain agreed to release the album with a sticker over Elden's genitals that said: "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

"The sticker, however, was never incorporated into the album cover," the lawsuit said.

As a result, Elden "has been and will continue to suffer personal injury" and "permanent harm," including "extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses," the suit stated.

Neither Elden nor his guardians signed a release authorizing the use of the image, according to the suit. The family was paid $250, Entertainment Weekly reported in 1992.

In 2008, Spencer's father, Rick, recounted the 1991 shoot to NPR. He said his friend Weddle, the photographer, "calls us up and was like, 'Hey Rick, wanna make 200 bucks and throw your kid in the drink?,'" the father recalled. "I was like, 'What's up?' And he's like, 'Well, I'm shooting kids all this week, why don't you meet me at the Rose Bowl [Aquatic Center], throw your kid in the drink?' And we just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"

The NPR story went on to say the family didn't think more about it until, three months later, they saw a 9-by-9 blowup of the cover on the Tower Records wall on Sunset Boulevard.

"Two months later," the article said, "Geffen Records sent 1-year-old Spencer Elden a platinum album and a teddy bear."

Elden has repeatedly re-created the pose as a teenager and adult, diving into pools to pose - while wearing swim trunks - on the occasion of the album's 10th, 17th, 20th and 25th anniversaries.

However, in most of the interviews accompanying these photo shoots, he expressed mixed feelings about being famous for the "Nevermind" cover and whether he was exploited by it. Until now, despite his ongoing ambivalence about the photo's legacy, he hadn't described it as pornographic.

In previous interviews, he's also said he tried to get in touch with Grohl and Novoselic, on a friendly basis, but never got a reply.

In 2016, the last time Elden recreated the pose as an adult, he told the New York Post he wanted to take the shot naked.

"I said to the photographer, 'Let's do it naked.' But he thought that would be weird, so I wore my swim shorts," he said.

"The anniversary means something to me. It's strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image," he said at the time. "It's cool but weird to be part of something so important that I don't even remember."

He added that he prefers The Clash over Nirvana.

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Man photographed as baby on Nirvana cover sues, alleges child porn

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The man who was photographed naked underwater as a baby and later ended up on Nirvana's iconic "Nevermind" album cover filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging he was a victim of child pornography. The album cover shows Spencer Elden, now 30, in a swimming pool as a then-infant with his penis exposed.

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Looking for info on Cody Luedtke, GA? Find the latest phone number, email address, home address and more ThatsThem for free.

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"I was willing to risk my career and I got terminated," said Luedtke, 34, tearing up as she recounted the swift edict by GSU at the end of last week that she either teach in a classroom without mandatory masking or face firing.

"I was willing to risk my career because it was crossing a moral boundary for me to teach in an environment like that," she said. "Sorry, I am emotional, but I understand how COVID-19 works as much as any lay scientist can."

With less than half of Georgians vaccinated, Luedtke realized her classrooms and labs would likely include unvaccinated students. "A lot of them are young and healthy, but not all of them are. Many are first-generation students and live with their parents and other family members. I could see the bigger impact and see this spiraling out into the community. People could die by coming to my class. They could be hospitalized, and they would have to be cared for by overworked health workers. We couldn't ask which students were vaccinated."

Luedtke says her decision to sacrifice a job that she's held for nearly six years and that she loved was not about her. "I am vaccinated. This was me not wanting to risk the health and safety of my students, their families and the greater community by allowing this classroom environment to exist."

Luedtke is not alone in her fears about classroom safety, although many USG employees cannot risk losing their jobs or disrupting their tenure track. The 34-year-old said she does not have children to support and has some savings to fall back on. "A lot of people are reaching out to offer me leads, and one is looking really good," she said. "But I have a little bit of savings. I plan to take the week or two to recover from what has been going on." (Because people offered financial support to tide her over, Luedtke has set up a GoFundMe account.)

Asked about Luedtke's case, Georgia State spokeswoman Andrea Jones said, "The university has a remote work policy and American Disabilities Act accommodation process. This employee was not eligible under the university's guidelines for remote work and did not participate in the ADA process. She was terminated for refusal to work."

While the USG outlaws any mask mandates, Jones noted that Georgia State advises, "You can request that a student wear a mask so long as you respect their decision and impose no consequences for not doing so. It is important to treat all individuals in our campus community with respect regardless of their mask usage." Jones also said many GSU students are voluntarily donning masks.

Boedy has heard from frustrated and fearful faculty statewide about the University System of Georgia's failure to require masks

"Faculty who are primary caregivers to spouses or grandparents with cancer. Immunocompromised spouses. Faculty with children in maskless schools. Faculty with moral and ethical arguments clearly opposing the USG approach. All have been denied what would have been no brainer accommodations to teach online or hybrid last spring," said Boedy.

Two University of North Georgia lecturers resigned their positions recently instead of teaching in person this semester.

"Like the fired instructor, I too am deeply concerned about the safety of my students and the surrounding community," said Boedy. "It's why I offered to all my students the chance to take my classes this fall fully online. It is more work for me and so far about five students have taken up my offer. I hope more take it."

Luedtke understands the USG commitment to provide in-person classes. In monitoring online exams where students had to keep on their cameras, she witnessed some struggling to complete tests with TV sounds in the background and family members engaging in boisterous conversations.

"I could see that some students need to be in a classroom," she said. "I understand that and think it is important to offer that safely."

If she could speak to the University System and the governor, Luedtke said her message would be: "I implore you: Require that masks be worn indoors at all University System of Georgia institutions.This science-based policy will give students access to in-person learning while increasing the safety of students, faculty, staff, and the entire Georgia community. Furthermore, I ask Gov. (Brian) Kemp to rescind the Prohibition of COVID-19 Vaccine Passports executive order so that the University System of Georgia can require that all students, faculty, and staff be fully vaccinated against COVID-19."

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Get Schooled: Georgia State instructor loses job over her mask stand

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The threat of COVID-19 to her Georgia State University's Perimeter College students and her responsibility to those students worried Cody Mullins Luedtke, who taught courses at the Dunwoody campus in biology, environmental science and botany and oversaw lab management and coordination.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/high-threat-terror-attack-disrupts-kabul-airport-evacuations-biden-deadline-n1277670

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Delta Air Lines will charge employees on the company health plan $200 a month if they fail to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy the airline's top executive says is necessary because the average hospital stay for the virus costs the airline $50,000.

CEO Ed Bastian said that all employees who have been hospitalized for the virus in recent weeks were not fully vaccinated.

The airline said Wednesday that it also will stop extending pay protection to unvaccinated workers who contract COVID-19 on Sept. 30, and will require unvaccinated workers to be tested weekly beginning Sept. 12, although Delta will cover the cost. They will have to wear masks in all indoor company settings.

Delta stopped short of matching United Airlines, which will require employees to be vaccinated starting Sept. 27 or face termination. However, the $200 monthly surcharge, which starts in November, may have the same effect.

"This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company," Bastian said in a memo to employees.

The surcharge will only apply to employees who don't get vaccinated and won't be levied for spouses or dependents, a Delta spokeswoman said.

Delta is self-insured and sets premiums for its plans, which are administered by UnitedHealthcare. The company spokeswoman had said the average hospital stay costs $40,000, contradicting the figure that Bastian used in his memo, and Delta later said both figures reflected a range of the average bill.

Bastian said that 75% of Delta employees are vaccinated, up from 72% in mid-July. He said the aggressiveness of the leading strain of the virus "means we need to get many more of our people vaccinated, and as close to 100% as possible."

"I know some of you may be taking a wait-and-see approach or waiting for full (Food and Drug Administration) approval," he told employees. "With this week's announcement that the FDA has granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine, the time for you to get vaccinated is now."

A growing number of companies including Chevron Corp. and drugstore chain CVS announced they will require workers to get vaccinated after Monday's FDA decision.

United and Delta already require new hires to be vaccinated. Two smaller carriers, Hawaiian and Frontier, have said they will require either vaccination or regular testing for current employees. Other major U.S. airlines, including American and Southwest, said Wednesday that they are encouraging employees to get vaccinated but have not required it.

Delta's requirement for weekly testing of unvaccinated employees will start Sept. 12, and the requirement that the unvaccinated wear masks indoors takes effect immediately.

Fueled by the now-dominant delta variant of the virus, new reported cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. have topped 150,000 a day, the highest level since late January. Nationally the rate of increase has slowed, but the variant threatens to overwhelm emergency rooms in parts of the country.

On Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, where Delta is based, ordered members of the National Guard to 20 hospitals across the state to help deal with a surge that is larger than the national average.

Southwest, Spirit and Frontier have blamed the rise of the delta variant for a slowdown in customers booking flights, and U.S. air travel remains down more than 20% from pre-pandemic 2019.

In his message to employees Bastian referred to the fast-spreading strain of the virus as B.1.617.2, which is used by scientists to identify its lineage. The Delta CEO's effort to avoid using the more commonly known "delta variant" did not go unnoticed and B.1.617.2 began trending on Twitter Wednesday.

___

David Koenig can be reached at www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

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Delta will charge unvaccinated employees $200 per month

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Delta Air Lines will charge employees on the company health plan $200 a month if they fail to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy the airline's top executive says is necessary because the average hospital stay for the virus costs the airline $50,000.

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A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a death sentence for Dylann Roof, the white man convicted in the mass shooting of Black members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Roof, 27, had appealed his sentence to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded: "No cold record or careful parsing of statutes and precedents can capture the full horror of what Roof did. His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose."

The court recounted the crimes of Roof, who as a 21-year-old admitted white supremacist entered the church on June 17, 2015, and joined a Bible study group.

"The parishioners welcomed Roof, handing him a Bible and a study sheet," the court said. "For the next 45 minutes, Roof worshipped with the parishioners. They stood and shut their eyes for closing prayer.

"Roof then took out his gun and started shooting," the court said. "Parishioners dove under tables to hide. Roof continued shooting, reloading multiple times. After firing approximately 74 rounds, Roof reached one parishioner who was praying aloud. He told her to 'shut up' and then asked if he had shot her yet."

Roof told her, "I'm going to leave you here to tell the story," according to the court record.

Roof killed nine people: the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, the Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. and the Rev. Myra Thompson.

Days later, during a eulogy for Pinckney, President Barack Obama described the victims as "good people, decent people, God-fearing people. People so full of life and so full of kindness, people who ran the race, persevered. People of great faith."

He led the audience at the College of Charleston's arena in a rendition of " Amazing Grace."

Roof, who was convicted of murder and other counts, including nine counts of racially motivated hate crimes resulting in death, was sentenced to death in early 2017.

Standby defense lawyers tried unsuccessfully to question his mental health for the record. Roof said at the time that arguing for a prison sentence wasn't worth the effort.

In his appeal, Roof challenged his competency to stand trial, questioned whether he should have been allowed to represent himself during the penalty phase, alleged that errors in the penalty phase were unjust and said some of the charging statutes might have been unconstitutional, according to the court.

The appeals judges disagreed, saying Roof's argument was "strained."

Roof remains on death row in Terre Haute Federal Prison in Indiana. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month issued a moratorium on federal executions while the Justice Department conducts a review.

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Death sentence upheld for Dylann Roof, who killed 9 in South Carolina church shooting

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A federal appeals court affirmed a death sentence for Dylann Roof, convicted in the 2015 mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.