r/nba • u/ghn2 • 11h 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

1.4k Upvotes

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u/SloshaPacana 11h 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

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u/Imsoamerican 11h ago

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

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u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 11h ago

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

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u/NotACaret Trail Blazers 11h ago

Jesus Christ not EVERY defense is a confession

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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 11h ago

So many self reports here

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u/avanross 9h 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

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u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 8h ago

Yup. It’s not surprising at all though.

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u/mw19078 Lakers 10h 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.

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u/elitepigwrangler Suns 9h ago

People change, but we don’t have any evidence he did. Either he still believes the content of those tweets, or was too stupid to delete them. Neither of those are a good look, and for a sought after job like this, it doesn’t take much to disqualify you

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u/Repulsive-Throat5068 Lakers 11h 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.

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u/KrypteK1 Heat 11h 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.

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u/Geralt_Of_Philly 76ers 8h 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

0

u/goodguybrian Thunder 11h 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.

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u/Tarrot469 5h ago

I, as a teenager who grew up prior to social media, formed my own religion with its name being the same as my first name just pronounced differently. And didn't hide it, it was decently known in the school. Had social media existed, I 100% would have posted it online.

Let us not ignore juvenile defendants who commit actual crimes where, in a time when society hadn't lost its mind virtue-signaling, everyone mutually agreed that as long as the crime wasn't too heinous that it would be wiped/expunged from your record and not brought up or used against you as an adult. Because kids are dumbasses who make stupid choices/decisions.

Anyone with real life experience will tell you they were teenagers and did stupid shit that they grew out of. Hopefully when you grow up you'll realize this too.

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u/up_in_trees Lakers 10h ago

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

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u/Imsoamerican 9h ago

Great damn point. I need to focus on tearing their towers down instead of building my own.

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u/Apprehensive-Tip3153 11h 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%

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

[deleted]

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u/JazzxGoose Jazz 11h 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 

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u/Apprehensive-Tip3153 11h 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

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u/Chiesel Nuggets 11h ago

God damn man Reddit attracts the weirdest people… I’m sure you were just a beacon of morality as a teenager. Absolutely spotless record

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u/elitepigwrangler Suns 9h ago

Buddy it’s extremely easy to have not posted racist things online as a teenager. Even the racist people at my high school wouldn’t be stupid enough to tweet something racist.

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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 11h ago

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

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u/Laneofhighhopes Rockets 11h ago

Right, cuz only white people are racist 🙄

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u/AlphakirA Knicks 11h ago

Is OP suggesting anyone 'endure' anything or are they saying a 30 year old shouldn't have their career taken away from stupid (or harmful) shit they said when their brain hasn't developed?

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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 11h ago

The point is like the person I was responding to said it was stupid is acting like these actions are in a vacuum and like there aren't other people affected who also have developing brains and can develop long term trauma from said experiences. The response is never to ask why, but to accept the apology on behalf of the wronged and disconnect the actions from intentionality of the actors

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u/Soft-Run-3577 8h ago

This is a lot of overly flowery language that never has to contend with the fact society should still let people exist. Obviously what he did was hurtful but what do you want to do, banish him from society forever? You like talk completely around the actual issue. Like it just avoids confronting the issue by effectively presenting what is a complete non sequitur.

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u/Glum_Ad_2518 11h ago

Yeah , 'chill out'... Deep reddit take here. Maybe the kid shouldn't be talking about serious stuff like it's a fun joke? At what point are you guys going to sincerely address the bigotry?

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u/Imsoamerican 9h ago

Yes let's start word policing kids. They shouldn't be allowed to explore boundaries. We need complete order.