Lady Gaga wins case to keep $500,000 dognapping reward

Lady Gaga won the lawsuit brought against her by the woman who “found” her dogs and won’t have to pay the $500,000 (£359k) reward promised for their return.

Jennifer McBride, the woman who was charged in connection to the 2021 theft of the pop singer’s two French Bulldogs, previously sued Gaga for the reward as well as an additional $1.5m in damages.

On Monday (October 2), Judge Holly Fujie ruled in favour of Gaga, saying (in her court order obtained by People) that McBride’s complaint was “legally insufficient in its entirety” following her “involvement in the theft”.

The court order also pointed out that McBride was indicted and pleaded no contest to charges of receiving stolen property in 2022, and was therefore “not entitled to thereafter benefit from their wrongdoing by seeking to enforce the contract.”

In February 2021, Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot while taking the singer’s two dogs, Gustavo and Koji, out for a walk. The gunman stole the dogs from Fischer after shooting him.

Last year, James Howard Jackson was sentenced to 21 years in prison for shooting Fischer. He was one of three men who attacked the dog walker.

While the men did not know that the dogs belonged to Gaga, they knew they were valuable. After Fischer refused to hand over the dogs, Jackson shot him with a handgun at close range, puncturing his lung and hospitalising him.

The ‘Rain On Me’ star spoke out about the attack publicly for the first time on Feburary 26, 2021. In two tweets, the star confirmed the $500,000 (£359k) reward that has been offered for the safe return of the dogs, adding: “If you bought or found them unknowingly, the reward is the same. I continue to love you Ryan Fischer, you risked your life to fight for our family. You’re forever a hero.”

The two stolen dogs were returned unharmed by Ms McBride two days later after Gaga offered the reward. In April 2021, she was arrested on suspicion of acting as accessories to the theft and faced one count of receiving stolen property.

In other news, Lady Gaga dedicated a recent performance of ‘Born This Way’ in Las Vegas to the victims of a mass shooting that took place in the city in 2017.

The pop star was performing in at the Park MGM in Las Vegas on Sunday (October 1) when she played a stripped back version of her 2011 hit, pausing to pay tribute mid-way through the song.

“I just want to remind everyone here what a resilient wonderful city this is,” she said. “It has big hearts, and a lot of hope and believing in the future. And I just would like to dedicate this song to everyone we lost.”

She is currently performing as part of her ‘Jazz & Piano’ Las Vegas residency which she announced in July this year.

The ‘Jazz & Piano: The Las Vegas Residency’ is a celebration of her love of the Great American Songbook, featuring reworked versions of her biggest hits. Gaga first launched her Jazz & Piano show back in January of 2019.

The announcement of the pop icon returning to stage came a week after the death her longtime friend and collaborator, Tony Bennett.

Gaga also recently featured on The Rolling Stones‘ latest single ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’ alongside Stevie Wonder.

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