Splash NewsĪnd Cohen said of the follow-up photo, “I’m not sure that it makes much difference because I think that there is a high likelihood that a judge is going to bury this.”Įlden’s lawyer James Marsh - who’s represented victims of child pornography for 16 years and currently has 26 such cases - slammed criticisms the suit was frivolous. But in terms of whether it constitutes illicit material the standard isn’t what the victim thinks.” Spencer Elden re-created his famous underwater pose. Herman said, “It may matter to his damages. The experts also differed on Elden’s decision to famously recreate the “Nevermind” cover - while wearing bathing trunks - five years ago, with White calling it “certainly relevant” while also noting that “it’s not super unusual” for abuse survivors to “defend the abuser and then, later on, say, ‘This is really wrong.'” “In this case … it’s out there like there was nothing inappropriate about it,” he said. “One of the difficult things about child porn is that once it’s out there it’s out there,” he said. Herman also said he understood how Elden feels “harmed” by having appeared in his birthday suit on the cover of the iconic 1991 “grunge” album, which reportedly sold more than 30 million copies.
“The fact that there was a choice to put a naked baby exposing its genitals, to me, suggests that there was this prurient reason to do that, to be shocking,” he said. If the case does manage to go trial, Cohen added, “A jury will see this as a rather pitiful attempt for Spencer to make a buck … and would reject it out of hand unless the judge instructs them as a matter of law that they have to find some damages.”īut lawyer Jeff Herman, whose Manhattan firm recently filed around 1,400 suits under New York’s Child Victims’ Act, said, “In terms of what is being alleged, I think it’s a well-pled complaint and I think it will be a question of fact for the jury as to whether or not the album cover fits the definition of pornography.” “I think that it’s a frivolous lawsuit and I predict that it will not go anywhere,” he said. “The context doesn’t suggest that it’s pornography,” he said of the photo shot by Kirk Weddle, who’s also among the defendants. The album cover shows Spencer Elden, now 30, underwater in a pool and seemingly swimming after a dollar bill on a fishhook. His California federal court suit targets 15 defendants, including Universal Music Group, late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain - who killed himself in April 1994 - and his widow, Courtney Love, as well as former Nirvana band members Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing.įordham Law School professor James Cohen said he’d be surprised if the suit survived a defense motion to dismiss it. In legal papers, Elden, now 30, claims that photo of him as an infant - underwater in a pool and seemingly swimming after a dollar bill on a fishhook - violates a federal law that lets victims of child pornography collect at least $150,000 from everyone involved in creating the filth. “This is a money grab and … I would look for a court to dismiss because it’s frivolous and it really is offensive to what we have all been doing in trying to protect children from the harm they are alleging here,” White said. “The idea that the Nirvana album is for the purpose of gratification sexually is just such a ridiculous outrage,” he said. White, whose firm is located in Okemos, Mich., also called the suit “really offensive to the true victims” of child pornography, saying that “the people that traffic in this garbage do it for sexual gratification.” “Not only do I not think this lawsuit will hold water, I think the attorneys will be scrutinized for even filing this thing,” he said. “I’ve never seen a more offensive, frivolous lawsuit in the history of my career,” said White, whose clients include people victimized by pedophile priests, Boy Scout leaders and notorious ex-USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Lawyer Jamie White, who’s represented thousands of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, called the case brought by Spencer Elden, now 30, “just outrageous on so many levels.” The man who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s smash, breakthrough album should have said “Nevermind” to the idea of filing a child-porn lawsuit over its iconic cover, some legal experts said Wednesday.
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