John Legend spills on having to negotiate with PoRN PRODUCER over stage name

John Legend is sharing more details about the having to negotiate with a porn producer in order to officially go by his iconic stage name.

The star, 46, previously revealed he came to an agreement with porn producer Johnny Legend in order to be the official ‘John Legend’.

But now Legend has shared another detail in the bizarre legal obstacle.

As it turns out, Johnny Legend also has an interest in music – a factor that only added to the possibility of a trademark infringement.

John Legend spills on having to negotiate with P#RN PRODUCER over stage name

‘And lo and behold,’ Legend said on the MGM+ show Words + Music, ‘There’s a porn producer – I kid you not – a porn producer who dabbled in rockabilly music, and he went by the name Johnny Legend.’

‘The fact that he made music, rockabilly music, and his name was Johnny Legend, meant that there was a possible trademark infringement case,’ he continued.

‘We had to find Johnny Legend, negotiate with him, cut a mutually exclusive deal stating that he was Johnny Legend, and I was John Legend,’ he said.

‘He wouldn’t sue me. I wouldn’t sue him. He wouldn’t try to get into the soul music business pretending to be John Legend. And I’m happy to make clear that I kept my side of the agreement.

‘I didn’t produce any porn, didn’t make any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend.’

The humorous story came after Legend revealed how poet J. Ivy conceived of the name, prompting him to go by the name despite not having a record deal at the time.

Legend previously shared the Johnny Legend story back in 2023.

‘I’ve never met him before. My manager, we had to clear the trademark. He reached out and negotiated a deal. I would always be John Legend and he’d always be Johnny Legend and we’d never cross,’ he said on the Jonathan Ross Show.