wp_remote_get adding backslashes

wp_remote_get() returns an array containing the response headers and the response body. When you json_encode() the response, which you appear to have done, then the body is going to be escaped so that it doesn’t break the JSON it thinks you’re trying to create. You’re adding the slashes when you do this.

To get the body of the response you need to then use wp_remote_retrieve_body(). Then to turn the JSON into an array, you need to use json_decode():

$request = wp_remote_get( $url );
$response = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $request );

var_dump( json_decode( $response ) );