It is perhaps the most famous baby photo in the world, shown on the album “Nevermind” by the grunge band around the musician Kurt Cobain, who died in 1994. Now there is a dispute over the picture.
Los Angeles – The former participants in the grunge band Nirvana are being sued by the man who is pictured as a baby on the cover of the world-famous album “Nevermind”.
The now 30-year-old from the USA believes that the portrayal of his naked body on the cover is child pornography, according to court documents filed in the US state of California on Tuesday. The picture on the album shows a naked baby underwater who appears to be swimming towards a dollar bill on a fishing hook.
Since the death of singer Kurt Cobain in 1994, Nirvana ceased to exist as an active band. The lawsuit is directed against the Nirvana brand as a “company with limited liability”, the record company Universal, the photographer of the picture and the former band members, including Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl. A statement from Universal was initially not available upon request. Nirvana also did not comment on the case on official social media profiles.
According to the lawsuit, the man sees his genitals as “lascivious” on the band’s album, which has sold more than 30 million times. He demands a total of millions in compensation from the defendants. The plaintiff’s lawyers claim that their client or their legal guardians never signed a contract that allowed the image to be distributed worldwide.
In addition, the defendants are accused of having enriched themselves through the picture on the album and its “terrifyingly obscene nature”. The photo contributed to the popularity of Nirvana’s music around the world. As a result, the plaintiff “suffered lifelong damage and will continue to suffer it”. The photo would have led to “extreme and permanent emotional stress”. A central question in the lawsuit is likely to be the extent to which the nudity of the child in the photo is actually sexualized – non-sexualized images of naked children are not classified as pornography in the USA.
The plaintiff’s chances of success could also be limited by the fact that he himself had recreated the iconic photo several times – and apparently with pleasure. The last time he jumped into a pool for the 25th anniversary of “Nevermind” in 2016 – but with swimming trunks. The word “Nevermind” is tattooed on his chest. dpa
