Less than a month after getting engaged, Rev. Jamal Bryant and his new fiancée, Dr. Karri Turner, are duking it out online.
At the center of their beef is one of Shonda Rhimes’s shows. Not “Scandal,” which is a word often connected to the senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, but “Bridgerton,” a popular Netflix period drama set in early 19th century Regency-era London and English countryside estates.
Bryant is excited about the upcoming nuptials and took to social media to share some of his ideas for the grand wedding.
He posted a video on Monday, June 24, that shows several Black men dressed in white wigs and pompously loud Regency-inspired garb.
“I told my groomsmen they all had to wear this to the wedding…..they’ve all dropped out …real friends are hard to find lol #blackbrigerton,” Bryant captioned the post.
Immediately, friends, followers, and church members flocked to his comment section to rebuke the usually well-dressed preacher for this particular fashion choice. One person in the comments was his bride-to-be, who immediately shut down his vision.
“NOT HAPPENING!” Turner wrote, followed by four laughing with tears emojis.
The Morehouse graduate replied, “@mzkarribaby it’s his day 2,” followed by one of the same emojis.
Turner did not back down. She stood firm, stating with more emojis, “@jamalhbryant Not Wearing This!!! LOL!!”
When a church member tried to side with their pastor, writing, “Come on with the Brigerton theme, first lady!” Turner playfully checked her too, stating, “No Ma’am! Lol! As you can see, he’s gonna take it toooo far!”
Shortly after making the post, Bryant said he was scrolling on social media and stumbled upon a sign from God that his #BlackBrigerton theme should go forth.
“I was randomly scrolling and BaM here goes confirmation!” he affirmed. “The #blackbrigerton movement is growing! Nobody else gets the vision @mzkarribaby adamantly protest the creative process lol.”
Still, his fiancée was not having it and called on a higher power to intervene.
“Dear Lord…. Your son down here trying to have a Bridgeton Wedding and it’s not happening lol! Make him stop,” she said with more laughter.
Turner seem to be able to match the good preacher with his wit and humor, and seemingly she is just as outside of the box theologically as the controversial pastor.
During an appearance last August on the “Hardly Initiated” relationships podcast, she discussed the women she most admires in the Bible. Unlike many Christians who view the Proverbs 31 woman who “riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household” as the ideal wife and mother, Turner exegetes the text and argues that this portrayal is actually oppressive and reinforces stereotypes of the overworked mother.
“In Christendom, she has been made… she is the template. She is this iconic figure. She’s a mother. She’s all these wonderful things,” Turner said. She continued, “While I honor, very much so, and respect the Proverbs 31 woman, I think there are some things about [her] that can be a little antiquated.”
She explains that not every woman will marry or have children, making this ideal unrealistic and unattainable.
Turner further argued that presenting the Proverbs 31 woman as the perfect example of womanhood excludes women without husbands and children from being seen as valuable to their community, questioning whether this makes them any less virtuous.
Some of the characters she said that she looked up to in the scriptures are women like Queen Vashti, who chose death before allowing her husband to disrespect her and possibly expose her to sexual assault, and Deborah, who was a judge who helped lead Israelites to victory against the Canaanite army led by Sisera.
Turner does not appear to be the passive first lady of the church of old.
The Las Vegas native not only has her doctorate in ministry from Emory University and is versed in womanist theology, she also is a businesswoman who trains other women to cultivate meaningful relationships with their God, living according to God’s purpose in both “ministry and the marketplace.”
The preacher also works as a division manager in the DeKalb County, Georgia, government and runs her own company, The Girl Bible, Inc.
It’s believed that her critical thinking and audacious delivery are exactly why Bryant asked her, one of his church’s assistant pastors, to keep his heart. He revealed to his congregation on a Sunday morning in May that she agreed to be his wife.
Immediately people took to social media to set the record straight about Turner, noting that Bryant, who was once married to Bravo-lebrity Gizelle Bryant from “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” won’t be able to play in her face.
“Listen… Jamal Bryant’s new fiancée is not one he can mess around with. God might rain hell fire on him if he messes this one up!” one person tweeted.
Listen… Jamal Bryant’s new fiancée is not one he can mess around with. God might rain hell fire on him if he messes this one up!
— MYA❄️ (@ElleDubb__) May 26, 2024
The world is watching to see how this plays out.
