A show called 'How to With John Wilson' did an episode on exactly this topic recently, and as a non-American it was truly bizarre to see what the situation is like in New York. Not sure how embellished it was, but I was shocked.
As someone who lives in New York and has seen the episode you’re referring to, it is not embellished at all. New York might be the hardest city to find a public restroom that I have ever been in. Sometimes buying something isn’t even sufficient grounds for using a bathroom - a business might only have an “Employees Only” bathroom in the back.