Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright’s former pastor, Ryan Dotson, caused quite the stir on Tuesday night’s episode of Vanderpump Rules, even though Dotson wasn’t actually featured on the show.
After Taylor and Cartwright’s co-stars learned that Dotson had apparently shared a number of anti-LGBTQ posts on his Facebook page years ago, the couple was confronted with claims of having allegedly hired a homophobic pastor. However, according to Dotson himself, who was fired weeks before the couple got married, he is not homophobic.
“I am neither transphobic nor homophobic. I as a Christian love and respect all human life, regardless of race, religion, nationality and sexuality,” Dotson told Page Six last June.
“But as a Christian and a pastor, I must stand firmly on the Bible and its teachings, as to how we should live before God,” he continued. “I know not all people are accepting of this belief or religious point of view, but I am.”
Taylor and Cartwright fired Dotson two weeks before they got married at The Kentucky Castle in Versailles, Kentucky.
While Taylor and Cartwright waited until the last minute to fire Dotson, which many of their Vanderpump Rules co-stars had issues with, Dotson didn’t have any ill feelings towards them for doing so and sent them his well wishes as they prepared to be married.
“I want [Brittany] to have the very best day she possibly can,” Dotson said. “They asked me to be a guest, but I probably won’t. I’m too much of a distraction.”
Instead of Dotson, it was NSYNC singer Lance Bass who officiated Taylor and Cartwright’s ceremony.
Because Tom Sandoval was extremely critical of Taylor and Cartwright’s former pastor, and also didn’t understand why the couple waited so long to fire him, Taylor decided that he should not be included as his best man in his wedding party.
Then, after having some time to process why Sandoval was so upset about Dotson and the things he’s shared online, Taylor welcomed Sandoval back into his wedding party only to have yet another falling out with his former friend a short time later.
While it has been almost a year since Taylor and Cartwright said “I do” in Kentucky, viewers of Vanderpump Rules haven’t yet seen the wedding on the show and likely won’t for several more weeks. That said, the audience has been seen plenty of the pre-wedding festivities of the couple, including their joint bachelor/bachelorette trip to Miami, Florida, and Cartwright’s recent bridal shower with her co-stars, including Lisa Vanderpump.
Vanderpump Rules season eight airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo.