Teen Mom OG continues to undergo a massive cast overhaul.
In the most stunning news of the week, Bristol Palin confirmed that she’s coming on board Season 8 of this long-running MTV franchise.
And now Ryan Edwards and Mackenzie Edwards have their own statement to make…
… they will NOT be interacting with Palin when new episodes premiere later this year.
For what reason? Because the couple is leaving Teen Mom OG behind.
But not before hurling producers far under the bus first.
Following weeks’ worth of rumors about their status on the series — Would Ryan step away to focus on rehab? Did Palin’s addition force Ryan out? — the couple released a statement to E! News that shot down all of this chatter.
In doing so, Mackenzie and Ryan made it clear they are finished filming… while doing all they could to paint the show in a negative light.
“We’re not returning to Teen Mom this season. The network told us they don’t want to show Ryan as a recovering addict,” Mackenzie told E!, making a rather scathing accusation.
She wasn’t done making it, either:
“But they did want to enter a contract with our unborn baby and have the baby film with Ryan’s parents so it would look like someone else is raising it.”
Uhhhh, excuse you?!?
Mackenzie is pregnant with the twosome’s first child, this much is true.
However, she’s really claiming here that producers were hoping JUST the baby, and not its parents, would appear on Season 8?!? Wow.
Ryan, who has wrestled with substance abuse for nearly as long he’s been in the spotlight and who was arrested earlier this year for heroin possession, also talked to the aforementioned outlet.
The ex-husband of star Maci Bookout, with whom he shares a son named Bentley, Edwards argues that executives refused to let him stand on his own.
He alleges they only wanted him to appear again on Teen Mom OG under the condition that Bookout essentially speak for him. And he was not having that.
Not when his ex has laid down her version of the law to him.
“They also want to take Maci’s word on how I’m doing,” Ryan says. “Maci’s said she’s not going to film unless I enter rehab again and quit the show.
“But I’m sober.”
Mackenzie went on to explain that the couple was told Teen Mom OG is trying to recreate the dramatic magic of Teen Mom 2.
“I know they did want five girls to begin with after Farrah [Abraham] left to sort of resemble Teen Mom 2,” she says, adding:
“But they didn’t want to see another recovering addict storyline. So they’re writing us out of the show right now and making it seem like we dipped out on our baby, on Bentley and on everyone.
“And that’s just not the case.”
As for other details of their departure?
“The show had been paying for my healthcare and for the baby so they could film the visits and then a week ago they let me know that would no longer be the case,” Mackenzie tells E! News.
“They’re not going to film the birth. We’re not going to be on at all. Maci can’t speak to Ryan and Ryan can’t speak to Maci – that was a mutual decision.
“But she doesn’t know what’s going on in our lives.”
Mackenzie says she and Ryan are finished with the program, even if producers approached them down the line to return.
Neither wife nor husband says their decision has anything at all to do with Bristol Palin, who has said the following about her addition to the cast:
“I am excited to join MTV’s Teen Mom OG. I look forward to sharing my experiences and hope that I can help others on their journey.”
Will she actually help viewers?
That remains to be seen.
But we’ll be tuning in each week to find out, that’s for sure!
