By Blake Brittain (Reuters) -A federal judge once again threw a lawsuit by a man who accused the iconic grunge -rock group Nirvana of spreading child pornography by using a photo of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of his breakthrough 1991 album “Nevermind.” US district judge Fernando Olguin threw out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would view the pornographic image. “Besides the plaintiff being naked on the album cover,” Nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the capable of the child pornography statute,” Olguin said. Attorneys for Elden did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Nirvana’s lawyer Bert Deixler said they “rejoiced that the court ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients from the stigma of false allegations.” The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle. The lawsuit stems from Nirvana’s use of a photo taken by Wednesday in the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California, depicting Elden naked to a dollar bill on a fish hook. Elden, now 34, first sued the group and his label Universal Music Group in 2021 and accused them of sexually exploiting him through his portrayal on the cover and continued to do personal damage. Olguin rejected the case in 2022 after finding that Elden’s claims were limited time without addressing the content of his allegations. The 9th circle reversed the decision in 2023. Olguin on Tuesday determined that the image could not be considered child pornography, and compared it to a ‘family photo of a naked child’. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Sergio Non)
Nirvana again defeats child pornography -lawsuit over the cover of nevermind
