Lady Gaga’s father has been slammed for asking the public for $50,000 to pay his restaurant staff.
Joe Germanotta shared on Twitter that he has had to let 30 employees of his New York business Joanne Trattoria go due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a GoFundMe page seeking donations to pay his staff has been set up.
Although his daughter is worth an estimated $275million, Joe 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."
He then shared a link to the GoFundMe, which stated: ""In the uncertain time of this pandemic, the Upper West Side favorite local institution – Joanne Trattoria – has had to lay off almost 30 employees until we are able to reopen our doors."
"Our amazing staff is made up of primarily hourly workers who depend on our payroll, and who overwhelmingly live paycheck to paycheck.
"Our goal of $50,000 would cover our typical payroll for approximately 2 weeks, and 100 per cent of the profits would go to our hourly workers to provide those necessary items like food, childcare, and medical expenses.
"We’re asking our Joanne Trattoria community of neighbors, friends, family and fans: If you’ve enjoyed us in the past, have had a friendly encounter with someone on our incredible service staff, or even if you hope to enjoy us in the future, we’d be so appreciative if you would consider donating to our staff to help them through this difficult time (sic)."
Many people were horrified that the public was being asked to help, when Gaga has the money to assist the staff.
Blogger Perez Hilton tweeted: "Lady GaGa is worth hundreds of millions of dollars AND is part owner in her family’s restaurant.
"Yet her also wealthy father has just taken to Twitter to ask the public to help financially the workers they have stopped paying."
Joe’s tweet has since been deleted and the GoFundMe page has been taken down.