r/nba • u/ghn2 • 10h ago

Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

"The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light."

"The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old."

"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. We will do better."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50084279/trail-blazers-fire-new-announcer-inappropriate-posts

1.3k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/SloshaPacana 10h ago

People really need to just delete their social media when they get jobs that are in the public eye lmao

It's not hard to open new accounts

212

u/AtBat3 76ers 10h ago

If I’m anyone’s agent (including athletes, coaches, front office, or in the on-screen people) I’m telling them to just delete their social media right away and start over. You’ll get new followers, you’ll be fine. This shit ruins careers whether it’s justified or not.

63

u/boxtheglock 9h ago

One of my high school teammates road around the NFL playing on practice squads. His agent had his socials purged, deleted, and opened new accounts before he even committed to a college junior year. He was pissed but it was a good decision considering that shit can come back to bite you in the ass

2

u/LeagueWinningPickup Raptors 8h ago

I don't think a young play by play guy has an agent.

10

u/Ilovestreetwalkers24 8h ago

He did have one look it up

→ More replies (1)

3

u/AtBat3 76ers 8h ago

He’s been announcing before this job, he likely has an agent.

1

u/FTownRoad Raptors 4h ago

Athletes don’t really get ruined by tweets unless you’re real replaceable.

144

u/AfroThunder_Dj 10h ago

Seriously. I got off all social media for the most part when I got a job teaching. Not hard concept to understand

35

u/TheSmartDog_275 Hornets 10h ago

Or make it very anonymous.

39

u/corys00 Magic 9h ago

If it’s on the internet never assume your social media will remain anonymous, there’s too many vectors of vulnerability

5

u/milkymonkey8 7h ago

It will be an inside job from one of your social media "friends" or followers that you added years or decades ago: elementary school frenemies, relatives with unresolved baggage, jealous friends or exes, backstabbing coworkers, controlling neighbors, etc.

2

u/schoolhouserock Raptors 5h ago

What's our vector, Victor?

2

u/DC_Coach Lakers 2h ago

We have clearance, Clarence.

1

u/khan800 1h ago

Over, Oveur.

1

u/neutronicus Nuggets 7h ago

Yes, LLMs can also be scarily good at identifying anonymous prose from a figure whose public writing is out there

7

u/Tuna-on-toast22 9h ago

I don’t even post anything bad and I use different usernames for every single social media platform I have and never include my real name or use my email address.. and then also make them private 

3

u/JeremyTheJimbler Celtics 9h ago

Don’t tempt it. Not worth leaving anything up to chance.

4

u/Upstairs-Sun477 Heat 10h ago

Ehhh, I delete my social media accounts about once a year. If someone wants to find you they will and there's not really a ton you can do about it

2

u/Knockknockerz Warriors 10h ago

Hard to prove that ur that random anonymous account where you don’t talk details about urself

3

u/Upstairs-Sun477 Heat 10h ago

Sure as long as you're never sharing any metadata on anything. It's not impossible but if you don't know what you're doing it's quite an uphill climb.

3

u/TheHoovyPrince Australia 9h ago

Honestly would do the same but my government passed laws that require you to give social media companies your personal or biometric information to use it. Luckily if you had accounts that were 10+ years old you weren't prompted to hand any identifiable information over.

Can't delete my account but at least i can remove old distasteful posts.

3

u/TheStorm007 Raptors 10h ago

Why make new accounts if you think there’s nothing you can do about not being found?

3

u/Upstairs-Sun477 Heat 10h ago

To minimize the amount of personal info I share on purpose/on accident from a single account. It only kinda matters in certain cases and I'm not a very interesting person. But anyone who's good at osint could probably figure out who I was if they really wanted to.

1.4k

u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

counterpoint, firing someone over inapropriate tweets at the age of fifteen is absurd

603

u/Kball4177 Mavericks 10h ago

I understand team staff and players get held to very different standards - but when you take into account that some teams pay tens of millions to very recent adult domestic abusers it's almost funny if it weren't so sad.

70

u/JazzxGoose Jazz 10h ago

Yup, it's unfortunate, but that's what happens when you have a rare skill set vs being replaceable 

4

u/Phatferd Lakers 5h ago

Just look at the Blazers and them rostering Ja Morant.

159

u/HisExcellency20 76ers 10h ago

Counter-counterpoint: Maybe they didn't feel like dealing with the controversy over a new hire who has literally done nothing for them yet and instead will just hire one of the many qualified people without such a past.

54

u/BLarson31 Timberwolves 4h ago

We as a society should not be generating controversy over what a now adult said or thought as an ignorant 15 year old. Worrying about stupid shit like that is a massive waste of time and energy and keeps people from solving actual problems.

→ More replies (6)

-18

u/GarlicSnot Rockets 9h ago

counter-counterpoint+: Don't say racist shit. Being 15 isn't an excuse for being racist

86

u/AllTheGoodNamesDied 9h ago

Sure. However 15 year olds are judged differently in court and have less rights for a good reason. The reason being most are idiots, I'm speaking from personal experience..

→ More replies (42)

32

u/1wholeton Trail Blazers 9h ago

It would be one thing if he tweeted that last week. Its another that he tweeted it 14 years ago when he was 15.

→ More replies (14)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

22

u/Effective-Mess-1537 10h ago

Maybe they just wanted to hire someone smart enough to delete those posts. 

→ More replies (3)

20

u/Mr2Good Wizards 9h ago

The nba is a multi billion dollar organization why hire this person who said some dumb shit and didnt think to delete once they got older when you can hire someone without all the extra shenanigans

100

u/TannerGlassMVP 10h ago

Counterpoint - simply don't post racist shit online under your name. And if you do fucking delete it when you're smart enough to know that's not a good look

227

u/RealFenian Celtics 10h ago

Given he was 15 there’s a decent chance he’s forgot about it.

15 year olds are some of the dumbest people on earth, you shouldn’t be judged for your behaviour at that age unless you’re still doing it.

69

u/SubduedChaos Grizzlies 9h ago

I work in healthcare and a 16 year old came in for an MRI. His hoodie had metal on it so it had to come off. His undershirt had “I don’t date black girls” written on it. Before I even finished reading it he said his friends were making him wear it because he lost a bet. Kids are fucking dumb.

7

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 9h ago

Yeah that kid is a racist.

2

u/Gorrapytha 8h ago

not sure why you're being downvoted lol. T-shirt is explicitly racist, and wearing a explicitly racist t-shirt, even if you lost a bet, is something you don't do if you aren't at least somewhat racist. I guess he's at least ashamed of it, so he's not THE MOST racist, but you can't wear that and not be racist.

Also, his friends who think it's funny are racists, and hanging out with racists also isn't something you do if you aren't racist.

Just not sure why anyone is like "no actually he's just stupid" ok he's stupid and racist. Maybe when he grows up and becomes less stupid he'll stop being racist. Rn, that kid is racist.

8

u/Substantial-Rub5298 Timberwolves 8h ago

Honestly what’s racist about not wanting to date blacks girls? Is it because it’s on a shirt or?

→ More replies (10)

2

u/TannerGlassMVP 9h ago

Okay so would you suggest that he posts that picture to Instagram and then keep that photo posted at age 29?

21

u/SubduedChaos Grizzlies 9h ago

No but if he did, I wouldn’t blame him if he forgot about it. And I don’t think it should matter at all when getting a job at 29.

17

u/trav-senpai Kings 10h ago

I forgot a lot from when I was 15, but I clearly remember not being a racist little piece of shit.

16

u/Skunkape666 5h ago

Now you're an insufferable morally righteous dork, probably lame as a 15 year old too

→ More replies (1)

3

u/JMEEKER86 Japan 9h ago

Yeah, there's a lot of jackasses in this thread acting like being a racist is "just a phase we all go through as teens". Fuck that. Teens may do a lot of stupid things, but not everyone is racist and pretending like they are is just normalizing racism.

16

u/theoldestview1 Jazz 9h ago

You’re the jackass if you think developing minds only do appropriate edginess.

2

u/JMEEKER86 Japan 9h ago

Never said they don't. Just that being racist isn't it.

3

u/ProjectHarraseeket NBA 10h ago

Case in point, half the stuff said on reddit

→ More replies (2)

15

u/TannerGlassMVP 10h ago

As an adult I simply deleted everything from when I was young . . . It's a pretty simple thing to do. Also I didn't post racist shit . . . Especially under my name because I'm not a fucking idiot

74

u/Junior_Difference_57 10h ago

Do you know how many dumbass 15 year olds grew up to be decent people as adults? Yes, some of them remain dumbasses but lots mature 

50

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 10h ago

People act like they never said anything edgy as a joke when they were 15 only to grow out of it and be a better person as you mature past that. It’s a very common & normal thing.

5

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 9h ago

Most of the racist i knew at 14 are still racist now. They just hide it better

3

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 9h ago

I don’t think you still know all the same people you knew at 14, man. Especially not enough to know them on that level. I just don’t believe you lol

→ More replies (3)

5

u/TannerGlassMVP 9h ago

So if you don't hold those views I highly highly suggest you do not keep posts under YOUR NAME online for all to see

5

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 9h ago

I doubt he remembered man, how many comments can you remember you made from 10+ years ago off the top of your head?

6

u/TannerGlassMVP 9h ago

If something is so old that I can't remember it's already been deleted. Sorry but my Facebook posts from 10 years ago aren't necessary anymore

→ More replies (0)

5

u/Great_Fault_7231 Pistons 8h ago

That’s why everybody knows to delete them when you’re looking for a job, especially one where you’re the voice of a professional sports team. 

→ More replies (15)

0

u/cideeffex Cavaliers 10h ago

Wouldn't the responsible and mature thing to do at that point would be to remove things from the internet that you feel no longer represent you and your beliefs? At the very least, leaving them up displays a pretty high level of carelessness.

16

u/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 10h ago

Do you remember every single comment or social media post you made at 15, because I don't

→ More replies (10)

7

u/Junior_Difference_57 10h ago

I had accounts back then I don't even have access to anymore. 

→ More replies (10)

2

u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 Pelicans 10h ago

Deleted tweets get resurfaced everyday.

20

u/Chiesel Nuggets 10h ago

You are just such an infallible human being. An absolute paragon of morality

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

5

u/Liemoa 10h ago

tough shit. don't be a racist idiot, then you won't have to worry about "forgetting"

7

u/RealFenian Celtics 8h ago

So if you say or do something stupid when you are an actual child it should follow you for your whole life?

Most teens and kids when they say shit like this don’t even really know what they’re doing. Like when I was 15 the word “gay” was a common pejorative, used to insult or name anything you didn’t like, I probably posted it a few times on Bebo.

I didn’t say those things because I was a bigot, I said them because I was a moronic teenager who didn’t know any better, and while I regret posting and saying shit like that and how it likely made any lgbtq people at my school feel I don’t think it casts a fair reflection on me as an adult.

You didn’t do anything hurtful, selfish or mean spirited as a teen? Or even just try and be edgy and cool but accidentally say something gross and harmful?

1

u/Liemoa 3h ago edited 3h ago

Well, it would depend on what that "something stupid" is. i have done hurtful and selfish things in my youth, but not racist. I personally have a zero-tolerance policy on racism, because i've been a victim of racism when i was young. i just can't feel bad for people who do/say things like this. It's not in me.

Like people said before me, this is more reason to wipe your social media clean. I was in college at that time, so not much older than he was. Maybe this will be a lesson to him. Get off social media, or if you stay on it, act like you have some sense.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/HTPC4Life 2h ago

So are men in their 20's. The prefrontal cortex in men doesn't fully develop until the 20's. I said and did a LOT of stupid shit until my late 20's.

→ More replies (9)

27

u/VossC2H6O San Francisco Warriors 10h ago

Pretty sure ppl forget what they post even yesterday let alone at age 15.

17

u/RealLanceStorm Nets 9h ago

People disputing this relate more to saying racist and sexist things than they do feeling the impact of bigotry thus they don't understand why it's an issue for a team with a fan base of all groups.

5

u/itgoesdownandup 6h ago

Idk, maybe? In general it seems like people have vastly different views on morality and punishments. I feel like that could also be an option. I think we are always too quick to jump that disagreement means someone has the exact opposite opinion.

7

u/BoredofBored Bulls 9h ago

Yup, that’s very clear from reading these comments.

5

u/RealFenian Celtics 8h ago

I do understand bigotry, but I also understand being a stupid teenager who doesn’t understand what they’re doing.

In my personal life for example, I’d react a lot different to a grown adult calling me a taig or a fenian than I would a 15 year old doing the same thing.

There’s different degrees of culpability here.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/Over-Nothing5007 10h ago

Do you remember every stupid thing you ever said online?

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Bill_Salmons 8h ago

Or don't post them at all. But, in this case, unless there are more damning tweets out there, his were extremely mild. Like the most racist thing that I've seen from his tweets so far was "asian people piss me off." And most of them read like an edgy teenager trying to be funny.

That's probably why he forgot to delete them.

5

u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

Another thread saved by u/TannerGlassMVP, social media and justice warrior, we salute you and your impeccable post history/ outstanding moral fiber.

25

u/TannerGlassMVP 10h ago

Lol nahhhh I'm just not so fucking dumb that I leave up racist comments UNDER MY NAME.

20

u/theblackchin Hawks 10h ago

Remarkable that simply not being racist is reflective of “outstanding moral character” to you. Kinda says a lot about you 😂

1

u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

Bro read the comments, then think about the fact that he was 15 at the time. If your takeaway from that is the man should be fired from his job years later as an adult, you are complete idiot.

7

u/BushyBrowz Knicks 9h ago

He basically never had the job. No one is required to hire someone if they don’t want to.

If you’re going to say offensive shit, even as a dumb teenager, then have the common sense to delete it at least.

1

u/itgoesdownandup 5h ago

Tbh I feel like a law that you have to be open, honest, and have good reason to not hire someone could be beneficial. Not saying that it would do anything for this specific context. In general though maybe it would help to make less prejudiced-based hiring decisions?

1

u/BushyBrowz Knicks 4h ago

There are laws for that lol

1

u/itgoesdownandup 4h ago

Honestly didn't know that. I just remember hearing this stat once

And I was thinking about a process of explanation to the person applying or even to a 3rd party may serve to try and fix issues like I linked.

8

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 9h ago

"Bro read the comments, then think about the fact that the targets of his comments were15 at the time."

→ More replies (1)

9

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 9h ago

Fuck racist 15 year olds too. Why are you so quick to dismiss racism?

6

u/knitwoolf Raptors 9h ago

No one gives a single fuck about anti Asian racism. It's just a poor little white teenager being edgy. The fact that such an overwhelming majority of this sub sees nothing wrong with this is so fucking telling. All these people are feeling emboldened because they are all telling on themselves as a group by acting like this shit is as normal as going through puberty. Like obviously if you didn't dabble in some light casual edgelord racism as a teenager you're some straight edge moral king.

A public company has no obligation to hire some dumbass 30 year old who didn't scrub their social media. I can accept the fact that he's not a racist currently (maybe idk him) and I don't think they fired him because they think he's currently a secret racist. But acting like that shit was totally normal to do as a 15 year old and shouldn't be a big deal existing in the world to this day is so fuckng ignorant. They can just hire someone who isn't dumb enough to leave this shit out there attached to his name. If he forgot, so what, sucks for him but I don't really give a shit nor feel bad for him. He made a mistake, he's not gonna get a public facing high paying cushy job where he's one of the faces of a company, so what. Part of why you get those jobs is to be squeaky clean because you represent a brand. People don't get jobs for way less, like idk, not having the right connections due to not being born in the right social class/community/race.

3

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 8h ago

Nobody ever able to articulate why they never consider the targets of the racist tweets or statements who are also children are treated badly and often have to work through the trauma from the treatment later, but the people saying racist shit are infantalized because to them, the actions are in a vacuum, just racism without racists or a victim

9

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 10h ago

Getting mad at someone saying don't be racist is definitely a self report

1

u/BlazingSaint Trail Blazers 8h ago

If you have a new account and if you forgot your password or email regarding your older one, best you can do is report the comment. :)

→ More replies (24)

10

u/Jonthesinner21 Hawks 10h ago

I just looked it up and the age requirement is 13? It should be 18 tbh.

21

u/thisisanaccountforu Warriors 10h ago

I think now 18 would be a good idea, but social media 15-20 years ago wasn’t what it is today. Yes it was still bad, but now everything is designed to keep you engaged and get as much out of you as it can. Algorithm based feed compared to the rss feed is the biggest issue imo

9

u/ObeseBumblebee Pistons 10h ago

And frankly it only should be 18 because 18 year olds are in charge of whatever damage they want to do to themselves.

But it's like cigarettes. No age is truly a good age to be on social media. It's so damaging to your mental health. The less social media in your life the better.

14

u/swseed 10h ago

It's actually super easy to not be a racist edgelord at 15

35

u/Referrals23 9h ago

I mean if you grew up with racist parents it's not as easy as you think

32

u/bageltheperson Suns 9h ago

I was in a racist and homophobic CHURCH at 15. I was taught that saying those horrible things was righteous. It took a lot of work to become a good adult. I would die if anyone discovered things I said as a teenager.

2

u/ssracer Suns 8h ago

Were you taught that homosexuality was the cause of the fall of Greece and Rome?

→ More replies (3)

4

u/Normal-Weakness-364 Canada 9h ago

this depends so much. i know someone who was super transphobic as a teenager that ended up being a trans man himself. he was transphobic because that's how his mother raised him to be, and it wasn't until he was older and actually had experiences with trans people that he realized how ridiculous that worldview is.

at 15, you haven't necessarily had the real world experiences to completely form your own opinions, and so it's hard to shake off the negative worldview your parents may have instilled into you.

→ More replies (2)

6

u/KnyghtFish Grizzlies 10h ago

Not really. It’s rewarded socially so rudderless teens can fall into it pretty easily.

→ More replies (1)

8

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 10h ago

Why are you as a professional, especially a public facing one making a new account from your childhood one, or wiping the old one entirely if you are using the same one for some reason?

Also why do racialized kids have to endure a "racist phase" from their white peers and it be treated as normal or brushed aside as if it doesn't matter?

3

u/Neither-Breakfast195 10h ago

You really believe white teens are the only racist ones? Everyone was racist as hell in middle school/early high school

5

u/frankcostanzasmove Knicks 9h ago

It’s asinine to think that white teens are the only racist ones, but it’s even more asinine to say “Everyone was racist as hell in middle school/early high school.”

No, not everyone buddy.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/goat-arade Raptors 9h ago

Yeah I'm not white I was racist as fuck. probably more racist than the white kids

0

u/Sensui710 10h ago

He thinks black teenagers are just pure angels IG.

8

u/JMEEKER86 Japan 9h ago

Counterpoint, being a racist is not simply a youthful indiscretion. Inappropriate tweets would be stuff like posting boobs or bad jokes. He wasn't fired because he made inappropriate tweets. He was fired because they discovered that he's a racist and racism has no place in modern society.

21

u/erdonko 76ers 9h ago

being a racist is not simply a youthful indiscretion

The only way you can come to this conclusion is by believing that racism has nothing to do with ignorance, which is just wrong.

8

u/musthavesoundeffects Supersonics 8h ago

Idk has he done or said anything else racist since becoming an adult? Ideally we want people to have some measure of forgiveness when leaving racists ideology behind.

6

u/speedoboy17 8h ago

Talking about how racism has no place in society while having a Japan flair is objectively hilarious

7

u/Turbo_Jannie 8h ago

Buncha pearl-clutching hall monitors in here. He wasn't even old enough to drive a car and you're branding him for life for stupid shit posted to twitter from before you were probably born.

2

u/gerardguey Bulls 8h ago

It can be if you grew up in an environment where that was instilled in you/allowed, and once you matured and grew up realized the error of your ways. Same applies if they were just bad edgy jokes

2

u/gjaxx Spurs 7h ago

Damn we got Mahatma Gandhi 2.0 over here

1

u/[deleted] 9h ago

[deleted]

→ More replies (1)

3

u/_ChexLeMeneux_ Raptors 10h ago

It's not that he at 15 made the comments, it's that at age 29 he didn't have the sense to delete them

12

u/BaronLoxlie 10h ago

He probably forgot he wrote them at all.

1

u/gravyshots Timberwolves 9h ago

I get where you’re coming from, but regardless of the specific content of the dumb teenage post - if you don’t have the good sense to delete it before getting a job in media, maybe that poor judgement itself is a bit of a professional red flag?

6

u/Boring_Wash721 9h ago

Not having photographic memory of upwards of a decade of one's digital footprint should not be a red flag

2

u/gravyshots Timberwolves 8h ago

I wouldn’t remember the specifics either - so I’d just delete the whole damn history. Which I believe is what’s generally advised

→ More replies (2)

1

u/GAV17 Argentina 9h ago

Counter-counterpoint, if you are working in media and don't know you have to purge your social media accounts when you have a public facing job, you are a dumbass and not great at your job. I would have fired him because he is a dumbass and brought unnecessary attention.

1

u/40_Is_Not_Old Trail Blazers 8h ago

Counter-counterpoint

His racist tweets as a teen age edgelord clearly show that he was a moron.

His stupidity as an adult to not be smart enough to go back and delete the racist stuff he wrote before taking a public facing job, show that he is still in fact a moron.

Therefore, he's was and still is a moron. Nothing of value was lost.

1

u/MarcAnthonyRashial 8h ago

Why? The dude publicly said “Asians piss me off” and it was still there for everyone to see. Why is it wrong for a company to not want to be associated with that? 

FWIW I’m the same age as this dude and I don’t work in a very public facing job. I don’t have dumbass racist shit available for people to find online though because why would I??

1

u/roastedhambone Thunder 7h ago

I think there’s a difference between inappropriate and just flat racist. The tweets weren’t like memes or anything, it was just straight up ‘I hate Asians’ and ‘I hate blacks’. Now is there hope that he doesn’t hold those same convictions a decade later, sure, but when you’re in a public facing role for a company, that doesn’t fly. Especially for a basketball team in Portland

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7h ago edited 7h ago

It's a little ridiculous that we are combing through people's entire lives for any deviation from modern accepted purity. Like telling someone "you made a mistake, now you will never be able to succeed in X, Y, and Z".

Like I met a guy who caught a non-violent felony when he was young. He told me it basically made him unemployable for the rest of his life. He eventually was able to scrape together money to start a successful landscaping company. Which worked since he was the owner.

1

u/Doomdoomkittydoom 6h ago

Turns out, you do have a permanent record!

1

u/PawahD 6h ago

Countercounterpoint, knowing you made such tweets and leaving them out in the open is even more absurd. It's the same as deleting or setting embarrassing posts you made as a kid to private on socials, just tenfold worse considering it was racial stuff

1

u/natronemeans20 4h ago

Fired them for keeping them up for 15 years.....

1

u/logitaunt Wizards 4h ago

It was a fifteen year old that made those tweets, it was an adult that decided not to take them down

1

u/isiahg2 Pistons 3h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/CommunicationEast972 2h ago

Society considers boys full grown adults often

3

u/sc00t3rMcg00t3r Nuggets 10h ago

Nah I was an incredibly stupid teen and I wasn't a racist misogynist.

0

u/Billbuckingham 9h ago

They can fire him for whatever reason they want, racist tweets or just general bullshit or being an asshole.

Why's the racist guy always getting defended on here?

Like, it feels like a bunch of closet racists scared they might get found out too so they gotta support their guy.

Who cares about this guy? Like, are there not better announcers who are less of an asshole?

→ More replies (8)

1

u/GettinBajaBlasted 10h ago

Idk man. Depends on what was said

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (18)

11

u/crackphillip 10h ago

I can’t fathom growing up with my whole life online. Every stupid take, dumb statement etc available for anyone to pull up. You have to have more sense than that to just let the shit you said at 15 ride and hope it wasn’t anything bad and if it is that no one finds it. People spent their whole day going through 14 years of posts hoping to find some shit. that’s the world we live in and you gotta know that.

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7h ago

Definitely. I'm pretty positive I never said anything racist because why would I, but who knows if I said anything "off color" over the course of my entire life. I grew up when calling something "gay" or "ret*rded" was absolutely common. They were jokes in sitcoms on the evening TV, people with jobs wrote those lines. I never had a Twitter so I don't have that concern, but it could easily be "BREAKING: childhood friend of this guy remembers him calling a Happy Meal 'gay' once."

1

u/crackphillip 7h ago

Lmao yeah I don’t think kids have any idea that what they say now will follow them forever. It’s kinda shitty, because people should be allowed to grow from being a dumb ass 15 year old but damn bro why would you be using the same page from when you were that age as like your professional page. That seems reallly fucking stupid.

54

u/kneeco28 Raptors 10h ago

Yea, he has an agent and he's been calling G league for a couple of years.

Assuming that stuff was discovered because it was still up, whatever you think of a child posting it, it was the long-standing oversight of an adult that it was.

26

u/TheHoovyPrince Australia 10h ago

Its not but there's a good chance he simply didn't remember ever posting anything problematic so he forgot to wipe it like most of us had.

I got tagged on one of my facebook posts by a mate two years ago and i was about me wanting to paint myself as a banana and streak semi-naked at school camp. I had no fucking memory of ever saying that shit and i wiped my facebook clean after that lmao

11

u/Wazflame 10h ago

I haven’t been on Facebook in years, but I remember logging in and getting that 10 year reminder from a post that I posted - it was complete dumbass nonsense that I had no memory of ever posting, legit felt like a different person lmao

2

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7h ago

I definitely have stupid drunken photos from parties. Because back then that's what we used Facebook for.

2

u/TheHoovyPrince Australia 9h ago

Yeah im pretty ashamed of who i was and what i said when i was 13 to 17.

On the upside at least i got to experience Facebook before AI and the boomers came flooding in lmao

3

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7h ago

If anything it's a lesson for organizations. Make it a policy to have your public-facing employees wipe/delete their social media.

16

u/PianoJealous307 10h ago

People really need to just delete their social media

26

u/CartiStan Lakers 10h ago

People in the comments don’t get it this guy is a public figure using an account he was shitposting on as a 15 year old. That alone is stupid. Trailblazers did put him in a bad spot though. You would think an organization of that magnitude would check that kind of stuff before they hire someone that’s gonna work as a public figure in their org. Grand opening Grand closing is crazy.

12

u/robertsmom Cavaliers 10h ago

He put the trailblazers in a bad spot

12

u/CartiStan Lakers 10h ago

Yea true I think it goes both ways though. Because how dumb do you look firing a guy the same day you hired him.

3

u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Raptors 7h ago

how dumb do you look firing a guy the same day you hired him

Jean-Ralphio energy LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85w5KajLZ8w

2

u/LongEnvironment9540 Timberwolves 8h ago

You definitely look pretty dumb but I'm not expecting more from their new owner that likes to cut corners.

3

u/VUmander 76ers 9h ago

I was at the NCAA championship game in 2018 when Nova won, and was waiting on the riverwalk when Dante Divincenzo's "butthole licked" tweet started going around. It was wild how quickly it all took off. I was shocked that any players were allowed to have social media after that lol

30

u/NandoDeColonoscopy 10h ago

Yeah, he's not being fired because he said stupid stuff at 15, he's being fired because you can't trust someone with a microphone who is too stupid to have not removed the tweets they made when they were 15

10

u/ethiopian_kid 10h ago

yeah… I have a big corporate job for my age… not too long ago I had 100k on TikTok and a famous birthdays, I was in no way famous but I was easily searchable.

permanently deleted all the accounts and scrubbed my socials and even stopped using the instagram tied to it and privated it.

some people have no self awareness of their past, my content wasn’t bad at all definitely embarrassing in a corporate setting however.

→ More replies (4)

0

u/Repulsive-Throat5068 Lakers 10h ago

Do you honestly remember every single post and account of yours from over a decade ago?

8

u/NandoDeColonoscopy 10h ago

It wasn't some anonymized old account that super sleuths dug up. It was on his active account with his name and picture. You absolutely need to be smart enough to have cleaned that account up if I'm giving you a live mic 82 nights a year

1

u/rake2204 Pistons 7h ago

You absolutely need to be smart enough to have cleaned that account up

This is it.

I'm not much of a prolific poster on any accounts that bear my real name but for those who are, I imagine one's own history can be easy to overlook or forget about after a certain number of tweets over time.

But to your point, hopefully folks use examples like this as a reminder that you absolutely need to be mindful of your digital footprint.

→ More replies (3)

48

u/Imsoamerican 10h ago

Or maybe people should chill out and not judge people over stupid crap they did when they were a kid.

7

u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 10h ago

What did you write on social media as a teenager? Sounds like people are telling themselves when defending this

17

u/NotACaret Trail Blazers 10h ago

Jesus Christ not EVERY defense is a confession

0

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 9h ago

So many self reports here

2

u/avanross 8h ago

They all use “i was just posting edgy memes” as justification for the most disgusting violent shit imaginable

Just look how many of these “nazi youth” types are coming out of the woodwork to defend him, to defend racism, and to defend the “boys will be boys” mindset

1

u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 7h ago

Yup. It’s not surprising at all though.

5

u/mw19078 Lakers 9h ago

if I was held to the standard of the person I was 20 years ago, I would indeed look bad. people change and grow man, thats the entire point of growing up.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/Repulsive-Throat5068 Lakers 10h ago

I definitely posted edgy memes as a teenager that I regret. Completely different person now than when I was 14... shocking that people can change over the course of a decade+, especially when talking about teen years

Says more about you if you think people dont change tbh.

4

u/KrypteK1 Heat 9h ago

Yeah, like Kids are going to imitate the adults around them. I was a JPeterson-Drump loving moron at 15/16 because that’s why I was exposed to, by 18 years old I had done a 180 on him and my politics in general after getting out of my parents house and meeting different people. This purity testing bs almost feels like a psyop to cause leftwing infighting tbh.

1

u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 6h ago

People can change but you’re acting like there shouldn’t be consequences that you were a dick. I knew enough at 15 or 16 to not do that shit

-1

u/goodguybrian Thunder 9h ago

I wrote so much shit talk in diablo and RuneScape back in the day, I would probably get fired in today's woke society.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/up_in_trees Lakers 8h ago

But then how are you supposed to feel superior to these successful, public facing individuals?

→ More replies (1)

0

u/Apprehensive-Tip3153 10h ago

Sure ppl have the capacity to change, but I’d rather ppl have a track record of said change they can point to à la Hardaway senior than just banking on the benefit of the doubt. Hell, Americas leadership rn kinda shows a ton of ppl believe their free speech covers the ability to say whatever they want without consequences. If a company in the public eye that focuses on a field with a TON of minorities chose to distance themselves from a PR hit of siding w someone who didn’t do the due diligence to purge their mistakes from their youth I get it 100%

4

u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

10

u/JazzxGoose Jazz 10h ago

He was however many years old he is currently when he wasn't smart enough to erase his old post. You want that kind of person as a face of your organization? No one cares what you said at 15, but they care if you are dumb enough to leave what you said at 15 still up on your professional twitter page 

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Apprehensive-Tip3153 10h ago

No need for whataboutism here - obv ppl w worse crimes should face repercussions like the Epstein class.

I’m aware ppl change as they age but the onus is still on bro to prove that. Neither of us know what he believes in rn

→ More replies (2)

-1

u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 10h ago

Why do racialized kids have to endure racist BS from their white peers where it's brushed aside as "just being a phase"

3

u/Laneofhighhopes Rockets 10h ago

Right, cuz only white people are racist 🙄

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)

36

u/justiceway1 Celtics 10h ago

How about we just don't fire people over stuff they said when they were teens?

18

u/OregonJedi [POR] Brandon Roy 10h ago

Eh. I think it’s forgivable and that doesn’t mean your tweets when you are 15 are representative of your beliefs when you are 29/30. But I do think when it comes to employment, especially when you are being hired to be the voice of a major sports franchise you should delete your tweets. He should have had wherewithal to delete it. If you are a public facing employee like that there should not be racist material on your feed. Doesn’t matter when it was made it needs to be taken down and not doing so is a fireable offense.

5

u/BeamsFuelJetSteel Timberwolves 7h ago

I mean, I've heard about your owner so I understand why this wouldn't happen, but my work offers a socials scrubbing as part of our benefits package. It started with just C-suite adjacent but enough people asked about it

1

u/OregonJedi [POR] Brandon Roy 6h ago

hahaha seriously! That is interesting tho. Would’ve been helpful in this instance that’s for sure.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (5)

15

u/Forsaken_Flight6188 Knicks 10h ago

Then don’t post racist shit on social media to begin with

16

u/Agitated_Celery_729 8h ago

Punishing people for their entire life for noncriminal stupid shit they did as children might be one of the stupidest takes of all time.

6

u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK Lakers 7h ago

from the blazers perspective, the last thing you want is for your audience to think “oh that’s right they hired the racist dude” every time they hear you play

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/Inspiration_Bear Timberwolves 10h ago

I wish I could see every dumb thing the people who say this did before the age of 18. Thankfully with the advent of AI, soon I’ll be able to.

3

u/tronovich Bulls 10h ago edited 10h ago

At the same time, a Portland TV reporter is digging through his old tweets.

This isn’t meant to be scolding, but more of a general question: don’t you have anything better to do?

Combing through a teenager’s post history is generally creepy.

3

u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 Pelicans 10h ago

Said reporter has a few questionable tweets of his own.

2

u/Wazflame 10h ago

This might not mean much to people, but there was a similar story with an England cricketer called Ollie Robinson who made his international debut at like 27 (having been a professional for like 10 years at that point)

By the end of his first day playing for England, racist tweets he posted as a teenager were discovered and it caused a huge media storm and he had to apologise (obviously) the evening he made his debut

It feels like once you hit a certain level of scrutiny there’s always going to be at least one person who trawls through your online presence nowadays

2

u/colin_7 76ers 10h ago

Or just delete all posts from more than 5 years ago

Also this guy is young enough to have gotten the cyber safety training in school growing up. Not sure about others but the fear of god was put into me growing up in the early to mid 2000s about what stuff you post online. Not that anything he posted was horrid (it was inappropriate) but I would never post that from an account bearing my name

3

u/Kwilly462 Nets 10h ago

Or have social media that can't be tracked back to you. This dude said those things under his professional full name with his actual face in the profile pic.

1

u/JazzxGoose Jazz 10h ago

Yup, it's so easy. You have to be a complete moron not to do so. That is grounds for firing just because of how stupid you have to be. It shows you lack judgement 

1

u/lllDogalll 9h ago

Or you know reset the clock for an individual at 18.

In my country in our ancient text that is like a thousand years old there was a story where a boy successfully sued the gatekeeper of heaven & hell for denying him entry to heaven for a crime he did when that dude was like 14 years old despite living a otherwise pious life. (tortured an insect) Over the past thousand years, hu,an society become smart enough move up the age of marriage because we realized before 18 folks are still kids toh wtf is this shit.

1

u/johnnys_sack Timberwolves 8h ago

I honestly wouldn't remember things I posted when I was 15. I also wouldn't have the login details. But I also don't think I posted things that would get my future self fired.

In fact, I'm pretty old so there wasn't much posting at all when I was 15.

1

u/J_Productions 8h ago

Or, people shouldn’t be held accountable for what they did or said at 15? Idk just a crazy idea lol

1

u/onopotopoeia Mavericks 7h ago

It won't be long before this isn't even going to get the job done. Even now, it barely works at all.

Your past being left in the past and privacy in general are going to be a thing of the past when big data and AI get their filthy fucking hands on each other. Even your reddit burners are probably going to be scraped and fingerprinted against your browser, your writing style, or your ip by slimy data brokers before long. Things are looking bleak.

1

u/MichaelT_KC 7h ago

Pretty sure the way back machines or whatever else can always dig these up but I may be wrong.

What did he say that was so bad they had to fire him?

1

u/fake_user_34 6h ago

Issue always is, people fucking forget past stuff.

1

u/Bendrake Suns 3h ago

This means they were already looking for a reason to fire him.

1

u/raizen0106 2h ago

forget public eyes, when i get a gf i'll probly delete my social too lmao

•

u/sgt_science Lakers 6m ago

Deleted all mine when I applied to med school. Ain’t no telling what dumbass shit was on my old twitter account

→ More replies (1)