‘Teen Mom OG’: Maci Bookout’s Ex Ryan Edwards Wears Trump Hat, Stirring up Viewers

The drama surrounding Maci Bookout, her ex Ryan Edwards, and their son Bentley continued to play out on Tuesday night’s episode of Teen Mom OG. In the premiere episode for Season 9, Bentley expressed his desire to attend a counseling session with his father. Bookout was able to set up an appointment for her son to attend therapy on his own, as the therapist shared that it would be better for the child to express his feelings about the entire situation first before attending a session with Edwards. Even though Bookout’s storyline revolved around her navigating her son’s relationship with his father, viewers couldn’t help but focus on one particular aspect in the episode — the fact that Edwards was wearing a hat supporting former President Donald Trump.

While Edwards was discussing the situation with his wife, Mackenzie Edwards, he was wearing the hat in question. During their discussion, he voiced his concerns over the fact that the whole matter was getting “worse.” He also shared his feelings about his ex, Bookout, laying much of the blame on her for the situation. Edwards said, “I feel sorry for Bentley that he has to grow up like that.”

Teen Mom OG viewers did not seem to be on board with Edwards’ version of events. Additionally, many of them voiced their frustrations that the MTV show depicted him wearing a “Keep America Great” hat on the episode.

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While Edwards shared his frustrations over the situation concerning his son and his ex, Bookout took action. During the episode, she reached out to a therapist in order to try to set up an appointment for her son and Edwards. 

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When Bookout did reach out to the therapist, they suggested taking a different route. Instead of setting up an appointment with both Bentley and Edwards, they said that they wanted to meet with the youngster alone in order to understand how he truly feels about everything. 

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In advance of his meeting, Bookout discussed the topic of counseling with her son. Bentley told his mother that he was not going to get his “hopes up” for a positive outcome. But, the reality star urged her son to be “vulnerable” during his therapy session. 

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While Edwards and his family previously shared that they would be alright with him attending a counseling session with Bentley, Bookout decided not to tell them about her son’s solo meeting with the therapist. Since Bookout and Edwards’ co-parenting relationship has been contentious, the reality star typically discusses Bentley-related matters with her ex’s parents, Jen and Larry. 

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Following his first session, Bentley decided that he did not want to open up to his mother directly about what was discussed. As a result, she reached out to the therapist directly in order to discuss next steps. 

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Bookout was able to gather more information directly from the therapist following her son’s session. The medical professional cautioned that it would be too soon for Bentley and Edwards to have a joint counseling session together. 

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The therapist also told Bookout that Bentley said that he feels neglected by his father. This news caused her to become emotional and angry, as she told her husband, Taylor McKinney, that she wishes that she could fix this situation for her son, but that she is not able to do so alone. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.