John Legend spills on having to negotiate with PORN PRODUCER over his iconic stage name
John Legend is sharing more details about having to negotiate with a porn producer to officially use his iconic stage name.
The 46-year-old star had previously announced that he had reached an agreement with porn producer Johnny Legend to become the official ‘John Legend’.
But now Legend has shared another detail about the strange legal hurdle.
Apparently Johnny Legend also has an interest in music, which raises the possibility of trademark infringement.
‘And lo and behold,’ Legend said on the MGM+ show Words + Music, ‘There’s a porn producer – I’m not kidding – a porn producer who dabbles in rockabilly music, and he goes by the name Johnny Legend.’
‘The music, the fact that he made rockabilly music and his name was Johnny Legend meant that there was a possible trademark infringement lawsuit,’ he continued.
John Legend shares more details about how he had to negotiate with a porn producer to officially use his iconic stage name
Legend contacted porn producer Johnny Legend to agree on their name; pictured 2007
‘We should have found Johnny Legend, we should have negotiated with him, we should have made a mutually exclusive agreement 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 break into the soul music business by pretending to be John Legend. And I’m happy to make it clear that I’m keeping my end of the bargain.
‘I didn’t produce any porn, I didn’t produce any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend.’
The humorous story came after Legend explained how poet J. Ivy conceived of the name, encouraging him to go with it despite not having a record deal at the time.
Legend previously shared the Johnny Legend story in 2023.
‘I’ve never met him before. My manager, we had to clear the trademark. He reached out and came to an agreement. “I would always be John Legend, he would always be Johnny Legend, and we would never intersect,” he said on the Jonathan Ross Show.
Johnny’s IMDb describes him as a ‘modern-day Renaissance man’ and ‘actor, director, rock singer, useless film historian, wrestling manager and promoter’.
His musical background includes recording multiple tracks for Ronny Weiser’s Rollin’ Rock Records and co-writing the 1977 song Pencil Neck Geek, according to IMDb.
In 1977, Johnny also released the crude porn comedy Teenage Cruisers, according to his IMDb.
The legend told the origin story of his name in the MGM+ program Words + Music
This name was given to the legend, born John Stephens, by his friend, the poet J. Ivy, who came up with this name after listening to his music.
In a 2024 interview with The Daily Mail, J. Ivy recalled naming Legend while they were both working on Kanye West’s 2004 album The College Dropout.
Ivy told The Daily Mail: ‘I met John Stephens the night I recorded my poem Never Let Me Down.
The Ordinary People singer entered the studio after listening to Legend’s music at West’s insistence.
‘I didn’t know it was there. So I was shocked when I saw it! “Oh what’s up man!… I heard your music, it’s amazing. It sounds like old school music! It sounds like the music my family listens to!”
The legend was crowned ‘Legend of John’ by his friend, the poet J. Ivy, who gave him this name after hearing his music for the first time; Photo of J. Ivy from earlier this month
‘I said: “Dude, you talk like one of the legends! You’re a legend, you’re a legend! In fact, that’s what I’m going to call you from now on. I’m going to call you a legend.” So I started calling him John Legend, John Legend. So it was just me and him talking, and a few days later we were playing records in the studio lounge.
‘And John Stephens, who agreed with Kanye as John Stephens, also released albums under the name John Stephens. I mean, that’s his name in government, his whole life was John Stephens.
‘So they were going to throw him out as John Stephens and he walked into the room, there were 10 or 12 of us in the hall, everyone was yelling at him, “John Stephens is in the building! John Stephens is in the house! What’s up with John Stephens!” “John Legend!….that’s your name from now on, you John Legend!” ‘It’s stuck.’
