Lady Gaga Does Not Have to Pay $500,000 Reward Money to Woman Tied to Dognapping
A judge ruled that Lady Gaga does not have to pay $500,000 in reward money to Jennifer McBride, a woman tied to the violent dognapping of Gaga's two French bulldogs in February 2021. During the incident, Gaga's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot and her two Frenchies, Koji and Gustav, were stolen.
Entertainment Weekly reports that McBride sued Gaga for not paying the $500,000 reward money, saying that Gaga advertised the reward “with the intent to defraud and induce members of the public, such as Plaintiff, to rely upon it and to act upon said promise by locating and delivering Lady Gaga's bulldogs to Defendants.” Judge Holly J. Fujie said in her court order that McBride's lawsuit against Gaga is “legally insufficient in its entirety” due to McBride's “involvement in the theft.” McBride was indicted and pleaded “no contest” to receiving stolen property, i.e. the two French bulldogs.
Five People Were Arrested in 2021 in Connection with the Shooting of Lady Gaga's Dog Walker and Theft of Her Dogs
Entertainment Weekly reports:
“McBride was one of five people arrested in 2021 in connection with the dognapping and shooting of dogwalker Ryan Fischer. James Howard Jackson, who shot Fischer before stealing dogs Koji and Gustav, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
“Though McBride did not participate in the actual kidnapping or shooting, she was arrested in 2021 and charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact to attempted murder, and one count for receiving stolen property. She was not convicted on the former charge, but was ultimately sentenced to two years probation after pleading no contest to the charge of receiving stolen property.”
McBride tried to change the narrative and minimize her involvement in the crime, saying that she only took possession of the dogs to return them to Lady Gaga… and, apparently, to collect half a million dollars in reward money. According to the documents obtained by People magazine, “the court now ‘finds that nothing alleged in the [first amended complaint] changes this conclusion.' The judge will not allow McBride another revised complaint, and the case is closed.”
Fischer said that Lady Gaga supported him after the shooting. “She's helped me so much,” said Fischer. “She's been a friend for me and after I was attacked, my family was flown out and I had trauma therapists flown to me and I stayed at her house for months while friends comforted me and security was around me.”
In the same conversation with CBS Mornings, Fischer said about the dognapping, “I think they just saw a guy with three French bulldogs. The one thing I've noticed in L.A. while walking the dogs is people would say out of the cars, ‘How much are those dogs worth?' Like, ‘How much are they? Can I buy them?' And that part was always surprising — the viewing of the dog as a commodity.”
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
