Taylor McKinney's paternal instincts toward his step-son Bentley have been picking up lately.
In unison with his wife Maci Bookout, Taylor has been putting his foot down when it comes to Bentley's father Ryan Edwards and his family.
Recently, Taylor demanded Ryan take a drug test before seeing Bentley. Now, he's setting his sights on Ryan's father, Larry.
Last month, Ryan and Mackenzie Edwards were fired from MTV, and the couple made it clear that they believed it was Maci's fault.
"Nothing happened, literally, nothing," Mackenzie claimed in an interview with gossip YouTuber Without A Crystal Ball. "We just got a call yesterday from Morgan and Larry at MTV and Maci's agent went above their heads and went to Viacom."
However, to no one's surprise, she insinuated that the firing was Maci's fault.
Mack claimed that Maci's agent "said that they wanted to focus on all of Maci's abilities and her... whatever she does and that we took up the time on the show that she could be using to show all that."
But according to his interview with The Sun, Ryan couldn't care less about the update.
“I really haven’t given MTV much thought now that I have my own fabrication shop," he told the outlet.
His father Larry told The Sun that Ryan is “getting a garage built right now.”
He shared, “He fabricates buggies from the ground up. He would love to build buggies for people. Put row bars on them. Not many people do custom work like that. He’s very good at it. He’s got all the tools and machines.”
Soon after, he changed his tune.
Ryan went on to claim that Maci got them fired out of “retaliation” after Larry confronted her husband Taylor during the reunion, The Sun reports.
“Maci is in fear that my mom and dad will start telling the truth," Ryan claimed, adding, "She will always fight to have us off the show.”
It looks like Ryan believes there's some things Maci is keeping off camera... but given how many times he's made similar claims without receipts, there's probably not too much Maci needs to worry about.
Now, it's clear that Taylor wants there to be a firm line between Ryan and Bentley if Ryan isn't clean.
During the TMOG finale, Ryan finally sat down for a session with Bentley's therapist.
“My goal for this is just to get the truth out, the good, bad and the ugly, even if it’s something about me that maybe will be hard to tell him, that way, whether he believes it or not, at least he’s heard it and once you hear it you can never unhear it so, it’ll always be in the back of his mind,” he shared. ”Hopefully it’ll work out.”
When Maci heard this, she shared, “I think it’s a big step in the right direction. I’m happy for your dad."
But Taylor had a different opinion.
“If Bentley and Dr. Ed feel comfortable bringing Ryan into a session, I think [Ryan] should take a drug test cause the few things he shows up to, he doesn’t look sober to me, in my opinion,” Taylor said.
As for Maci, her priorities might be a bit different.
“I’m just worried about Bentley right now,” she shared.
“Therapy is one thing that like, if you do it once, it’s actually one of the things that you’re like ‘I’m actually oddly relieved after that I’m gonna do that again maybe.’ We’ll see, it’s a step.”
Now, Taylor is accusing Larry of endangering Bentley.
Things got heated during the TMOG reunions.
"You seem to be blaming Maci for limiting the visits with Bentley," Dr. Drew pointed out.
But Larry claimed, "She's limited some, sure. I don't know if I'm blaming her... What I said was that a 12-year-old boy can be manipulated. That's what I said, that's what I said, that's what I meant."
"Since I've been around I know that this woman has bent over backwards to make sure that Bentley has kept a relationship with them despite everything that Ryan has put us through," Taylor said.
Larry seemed upset that Maci claimed Bentley was in an "unsafe situation" being around Ryan, but Taylor seemed to agree with his wife.
"Bentley is a child," Taylor angrily said on the show. "Stop forcing a relationship on a child."
Many viewers thought it might come to blows!
What do you think of their tense exchange?