Lady Gaga’s Dad Strangely Explains a Lot About This Election
One muggy evening over the summer, I headed up to Joanne Trattoria, a cozy Italian restaurant on New York City's Upper West Side. It's an establishment that would be unexceptional if not for the fact that it is owned and run by Joe Germanotta—father of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga.
The restaurant hosts regular drag nights , and the event I had tickets to was advertised as a Pride Extravaganza. There would be a buffet dinner, a drag show, and a live auction of two Lady Gaga tickets for a show in Las Vegas.
But I had also come to see if I could learn about Mr. Germanotta himself. Because despite his bonafides as the father of a queer icon and the owner of a gay-friendly Italian joint, he is something of a MAGA enthusiast. Over the past year or so, he has gone on Fox News multiple times to complain about the economy , crime , and how migrants " took over " the neighborhood where Joanne's is located. Last month, he made his endorsement of Trump official on Fox & Friends. "They're two vastly different people," Germanotta said of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. "One of them is pure, you know, and he's a patriot. And the other, she's just going to say whatever she needs to say to get elected. That's basically what I hear."
The public Trumpiness—which appears in opposition to his daughter's politics—hasn't stopped Germanotta from passionately hyping the goings-on at the drag bar restaurant. He tweets frequently about "Drag Me to Joanne's," a weekly drag dinner, and livestreams the restaurant's events, which include drag bingo and cabaret nights . The effect is disorienting: One minute he will be retweeting a video of a Tucker Carlson interview or Ted Nugent calling for President Joe Biden to be impeached. The next, Germanotta is posting photos of himself with the drag performers and tweeting messages like, "All monsters are welcome" and "LaLa Wiggy will be back soon."
The two sides of this person seemed so unaligned. I had to see the show for myself.
When Lady Gaga endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 campaign, Donald Trump took notice. "Lady Gaga—is not too good," Trump said at a rally . Trump then went on to claim, ominously, that he could tell "plenty of stories" about Lady Gaga.
Instead of jumping to his daughter's defense, Germanotta sought to demonstrate his allegiance to Trump, first tweeting : 2020." In a later tweet he elaborated: "You may have noticed my political and spiritual beliefs are different. liberty and freedom of choice would not be political." (The tweets have since been deleted.)
A few months later, Lady Gaga performed at Biden's inauguration. Fox News called up Germanotta for an interview . "I'm still very proud of her!" he told them. "I think she did a great job. She sang loud and strong and she really put her soul into it." When they asked him about her performing so soon after Jan. 6 and the attack on the Capitol that month, and whether that worried him, he said that he had "normal fears that a father would have any time my daughter performs," adding, "I hope everybody stays happy, safe and it's a calm day." (Gaga has not publicly endorsed Kamala Harris.)
It kicked off his gig as a commentator. Germanotta went on Fox a couple times to talk about the inconveniences of COVID lockdowns. Then, to weigh in on another favorite Trump talking point. Since the spring of 2022, New York City has seen an influx of migrants , people from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, fleeing unstable conditions in their countries. Often, Germanotta is cited as a New York small-business owner who has apparently seen his restaurant threatened because the presence of the migrants is a deterrent to customers . He has also claimed in a couple Fox interviews that the migrant population has brought prostitution and drug dealing to the area.
He has a lot of complaints: On Fox, he has also blamed protesters for "generating reluctance among consumers." Many of his gripes seem to be about what he sees as the downfall of New York. He talks about the " chaos " and the proliferation of motorbikes and trash. He dislikes all the new " pot stores ." He complains about late-night loitering and noise and partying , but also claims that the streets are now empty due to fear of crime. ("I would never raise two girls here again. It's not safe anymore," he has said .) He makes slick, galvanizing statements like, "We need to polish the Big Apple" and "If the place looks like hell, we're going to attract the wrong people." Fox News eats it up with headlines like "Lady Gaga's Father Slams New York City." How, I wondered, did that square with someone who was running what seemed like a good old inclusive and boisterous New York City event?
When I arrived at the door of Joanne's for the Pride Extravaganza, a sign written in pen read "$69 entry fee." (I'd paid $99 to book my reservation for the night's event, but I figured such were the economics of city nightlife.) My ticket included dinner, dessert, and live entertainment. Drinks were not included.
In the restaurant, there was a video playing of a Lady Gaga performance over the bar. Banners of Pride flags festooned every surface. The host walked me to the seating at the back of the restaurant, and we passed a huge blackboard that read, "Leave a message for Mr. G or Lady G." Customers had scrawled various messages of love and pleas including "Come to Brasil."
On the walls, there was plenty of Lady Gaga ephemera, specifically from Joanne , Lady Gaga's fifth album, which is a tribute to her aunt, Joe's late sister Joanne Stefani Germanotta , who died at age 19 from lupus. (The restaurant is named for Joanne; Gaga is also named after her aunt.) There were framed tickets from the premiere of House of Gucci at Lincoln Center and a New York license plate that read "LADYGAGA."
The crowd in the dining room was a mix of older and younger, but most people were dressed on the preppy side in gingham and Ralph Lauren. I settled in and ordered a drink from a Gaga-themed cocktail menu. (Born This Way was made with vodka, rum, lime, simple syrup, and light beer; Edge of Glory was a mix of tequila, passionfruit, lime, and Champagne.) Ariana Grande, Scissor Sisters, Kim Petras, and Dua Lipa played over the speakers.
At 7 p.m. on the dot, drag queen Jupiter Genesis kicked off the show, wearing a layered purple boa and a metallic bustier. Strutting between the tables, her head nearly touching the ceiling, Genesis sashayed through the dining room and plucked dollar bills from diners' hands while she introduced performances by three other queens: Victoria Holiday did a Beyoncé number in a long pink wig; BaeJing lip-synched to the White Lotus theme song with a lot of rapid tongue movements; and Ruby Fox did a Cyndi Lauper song in opera-length gloves. (Genesis herself did a Lady Gaga tribute number.) Germanotta was around the whole night, filming the performance on his iPad for the livestream. Dinner was brought in courses as we watched the queens do their thing. There were mini cannolis for dessert and colorful macarons stamped with little Pride flags.
Nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been pushed in the U.S. over the past few years, many of which aimed to ban or censor drag performances. Plenty of these drag bans have been unsuccessful, but this spring, the Supreme Court effectively ruled that local governments were allowed to ban drag shows. Project 2025, which has been referred to as a blueprint for Trump's presidency (and for which J.D. Vance wrote the forward), would eliminate federal policies that promote LGBTQ+ equality . The report claims that only straight, two-parent families are safe for children, stating, "Children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries."
But you won't find Germanotta going on Fox to talk about any of that. When Slate reached out about this, Germanotta responded with a statement through a representative: "I have not nor will ever endorse any national legislation that inhibits anyone's rights for personal or artistic expression. Assigning any derogatory labels that discriminate against personal identity is wrong and we do not tolerate it at Joanne's."
"I take tremendous pride in ensuring Joanne's remains a safe space for LGBTQ+ and Drag Performers," the statement said. "Freedom of speech, choice, expression and religion are cornerstones of American culture. In my view, every citizen is protected by the Constitution and these freedoms must not be censured. I vigorously support and defend the rights of diverse LGBTQ+ people and the Artistry of Drag Performers. In our country, every individual's freedom includes open expression of artistry and personal life decisions. In my view, these rights cannot be ignored or taken away."
For what it's worth, I believe him. I never thought Germanotta's views would align completely with the Fox News agenda, which seems intent on demonstrating that drag queens and queer people are a threat to society.
But it's clear that the Fox anchors are getting something powerful out of Germanotta's appearances: proof that the parent of a liberal celebrity supports their ideology. And in exchange for letting Fox use his proximity to celebrity, Germanotta could push for something in return.
