John Legend says his manager 'negotiated a deal' with a porn producer in order to use his stage name

• John Legend explained that he had to negotiate his stage name before being able to use it.
• The singer, whose surname is Stephens, had to cut a deal with a porn producer named Johnny Legend.

John Legend says that prior to adopting his stage name, he had to clear one hurdle – negotiations with a porn producer who went by the similar name Johnny Legend.

Legend, whose given surname is Stephens, explained the process of landing on his current stage name in an upcoming episode of "The Jonathan Ross Show" releasing Saturday, The Independent reported. Legend said on the show that the "Legend" title started with a friend, until Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, "blew it up when he put it on one of his recordings."

Legend said on the show, per The Independent, that he decided to "make a statement" by debuting with the stage name John Legend. Then, there was a hiccup — Johnny Legend, the porn producer.

"I've never met him before," Legend said. "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," Legend continued, per The Independent.

Legend told MTV in 2008 that he "never would have chosen" his stage name himself, but eventually, enough people started calling him by the moniker that he decided to "just go for it."

In 2018, his wife Chrissy Teigen brought up the fact that her husband "didn't even take his last name" when responding to a tweet questioning why some women who don't take their husband's last name after marriage.

"I am not anti-taking the last name at all," Teigen explained in a follow-up tweet. "I was going to. Just never got around to it and it isn't even the name he goes by. It wasn't some grand statement not to."

Legend is seemingly referencing the producer and director of "My Breakfast with Blassie," a 1983 film starring Andy Kaufman, as well as explicit films like 1977's "Young, Hot 'N' Nasty Teenage Cruises." Per the East Bay Express, Johnny Legend is also a stage name — the producer was born Martin Margulies.