Lady Gaga‘s father, Joe Germanotta, has recently come under fire for setting up a GoFundMe for his restaurant during the current health crisis, asking the public to donate $50,000.
The restaurateur started the campaign to cover his staff wages after his New York City restaurant, Joanne Trattoria, was shut down and 30 workers were laid off.
At the time, Germanotta tweeted: “I’m doing the best I can but we had to close Joanne for the month. Our staff needs some help financial. Any help for our employees will be appreciated.”
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The GoFundMe page, which has since been deleted, read: "As our doors remain closed longer than anticipated, our staff is finding it increasingly difficult to finance the daily necessities to keep them healthy, like groceries and insurance costs -- to say nothing of rent, utilities, and other recurring bills."
The statement continues,"Our goal of $50,000 would cover our typical payroll for approximately 2 weeks, and 100% of the profits would go to our hourly workers to provide those necessary items like food, childcare, and medical expenses."
Understandably, Germanotta's pleas left many people questioning why Lady Gaga herself would not help cover the staff's wages.
However, a source told Page Six, Lady Gaga did not know about her father's GoFundMe until it was too late--and was embarrassed when she heard about it: “She had no idea he was doing that and that idea would have been shot down before he even finished bringing it up — and the worst part is, it’s her birthday! Neither she nor [mom] Cynthia would ever let that happen. It was him acting on his own, unfortunately, really bad impulse.”
Since then, Gaga has more than made up for her part--or lack thereof--in her father's donation request. Speaking at the World Health Organization press conference, the singer revealed she had partnered up with Global Citizen to raise $35 million in seven days for research, faster lab tests, essential PPE, supplies, and testing kits.
