'New York is dirty, filthy and smells of weed' Lady Gaga's restaurateur dad says

10 February 2023 , 13:34

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Lady Gaga's dad Joe Germanotta is fuming about the way New York is going (Image: Getty Images for NARAS)

Lady Gaga's dad has taken aim at the city he calls home in a scathing rant.

Joe Germanotta, who owns Italian restaurant Joanne Trattoria in Manhattan's Upper West Side, is outraged by "horrible" New York's soaring crime rates.

The restaurateur, 65, complained that crime and inflation in the city have hit his business.

"I think the city is a mess. It looks horrible," he said on Fox Business Network's Mornings.

"People coming from Connecticut and Long Island, maybe they're going to Lincoln Center for a show... then they're walking around, it smells like weed everywhere.

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"The city looks terrible, from just probably four years ago. It's dirtier, there's a lot more people out on the street. It seems filthy."

Joe runs the Joanne Trattoria Restaurant in Manhattan (Getty Images)

Joe gave his opinion after he was asked about a Quinnipiac University poll which showed that 66% of voters believe crime in New York City is a problem.

Major crimes were up 22% in the city in 2022 in crime data released by the New York Police Department.

Meanwhile, Fatal knife crime shot up by 37 per cent in New York last year, with the NYPD logging 96-blade murders in 2022.

Last year, a man who shot and wounded Lady Gaga's dog walker after stealing her French bulldogs was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Lady Gaga was born and raised in New York (Getty Images)

It's believed the thieves did not realise the dogs belonged to the Poker Face singer, but the motive was purely regarding the value of the French bulldogs - a breed that can cost thousands of dollars.

The attack left the pop star's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, seriously wounded and he addressed the court to give an impact statement. He later posted his comments to his Instagram.

It read: "It's hard to believe that it's nearing two years since I was taking Asia, Koji and Gustav out for an evening stroll when - in an instant - I suddenly found myself fighting with everything I had to protect those dogs from being stolen.

"But it wasn't enough: I was beaten, strangled, shot and left to die bleeding out on a sidewalk and gasping for my life. And Koji and Gustav were gone."

Jessica Gibb