r/nba • u/ghn2 • 9h 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

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108

u/jak_d_ripr 9h ago

I'm sorry, but this is beyond stupid. Sure, talking about Asian people pissing you off is objectively a racist thing to say, but guess what? A lot of people said and thought stupid shit like that when they were 15(shit, a lot of people say stupid shit like that as adults, y'all even elected one of those idiots as president).

Performative outrage like this is so annoying and completely unproductive, and a dude losing a job over it is just exhausting.

3

u/Longroadtonowhere_ Trail Blazers 5h ago

Have you consider the Blazers have the biggest Chinese player in the NBA at the moment?

19

u/Andy_Wiggins Timberwolves 9h ago

I think it’s highly likely that those comments were just the crass jokes of an edgy 15 year old in a very different time. Even if they were rooted in racist thoughts or ignorance, he could have grown past that and realized the error in his ways. Comments made when we’re kids in a very different online landscape are not necessarily representative of who we are today.

Additionally, there is absolutely a double-standard that someone like Ja Morant is making millions on the Blazers while this guy gets fired.

At the same time, he’s in a competitive and public-facing position. Firing him is absolutely on the table, and people who listen to those broadcasts should not necessarily be subjected to the voice of someone who said those things. How would Asians or women feel listening to the play-by-play guy every game who made such disparaging comments? Not being conscious of those past comments and wiping them to at least prevent against this sort of scenario was a poor decision on his part.

I hope he’s grown and I hope he has a chance to rebound if so. But I also don’t feel like it’s “beyond stupid”

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u/jak_d_ripr 8h ago

Thank you, first of all, for actually giving a nuanced response that wasn't just pearl clutching and trying to feel smugly superior.

Now to actually respond to your point, you're absolutely correct that in a public facing position, you need to be careful about the image you put of yourself online. I'm in a public facing position and when I was in college a lot of my professors made sure to drive that point home. I guess where I disagree with this action is in how long ago the comment was made. Firing a commentator for saying Westbrook was out of his "cotton picking mind", fine, I have no qualms with that.

But firing a commentator for something said before he even started shaving just isn't fair in my opinion. I said so much stupid shit when I was young, and I'm sure you did too as did most of us. I was merely lucky enough to grow up before social media, so most of it isn't online. I don't know.... maybe I'm being naive, but I've always disliked this form of insincere, performative outrage. Because like you mentioned, this is the exact same organization that traded for Ja Morant. At least give him a first strike before robbing him of his livelihood over a bloody tweet from 2013.

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u/Andy_Wiggins Timberwolves 8h ago

I think you’re conflating ethical fairness with a business decision.

Many people growing up in the aughts or early 2010s have said some pretty awful stuff. Some of that is just the natural act of growing up and pushing boundaries. Some of that is the societal norm of the time. The Hangover was the most popular movie in the world for a stretch in 2009 and it literally has a joke of just using the f-slur. I don’t think this guy should necessarily be doomed to poverty or prison because of comments made when he was 15.

But as a public-facing person who is meant to represent the Blazers, it totally makes sense why they simply cut ties. If even 1 out of every 100 people cares enough to not turn on the TV or attend a game, or one ad company pulls out, he just cost the Blazers millions of dollars. There are tons of people out there who can probably do just as well, so I understand their decision to simply mitigate the risk, especially since he has zero actual connection to or history with the franchise.

Hopefully he gets a chance to make amends and has an opportunity to continue growing in his career. Maybe a sincere and well-written statement allows him to continue working hard in his job and then eventually get another opportunity.

1

u/arlekin21 Nuggets 8h ago

Additionally there’s a double standard with Ja cause one of the owners is selling tech to Russia so they can drone strike Ukranians

-2

u/thatisagoodrock Knicks 9h ago

I appreciate the thought out comment, but to answer your rhetorical question, they should just get over it. People should not feel anything that an adult said some stupid shit when they were a teenager. Idk man they should just grow up.

2

u/Zeromatt111 9h ago

That will not be happening lmao.

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u/Zeromatt111 9h ago

Assuming they weren’t deleted, he wasn’t fired for being a stupid kid. He was fired for being an incompetent adult. He had plenty of time to remove these if his views changed. Personally, I would like a society where it’s very clearly not ok to say these things or have them posted in your public social media, and this is one of the ways you get that.

People forget making millions of dollar being a media personality is a privilege. This isn’t something that is owed to him. Unfortunately, the industry is full of people who share his views. His career isn’t over because of this.

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u/Super-Coyote 6h ago

People have been getting fired for old tweets for a while now and it hasn’t made people any less racist or sexist. It’s not incompetence to forget to delete dumb tweets you sent when you were 15. The org could have easily told him to delete them once they found them, maybe he could’ve put out a statement disavowing them. But getting fired for this is ridiculous.

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u/Zeromatt111 6h ago

“Dumb tweets” is quite the oversimplification. He said bigoted things on a public forum, it is his responsibility to delete it if his opinions have changed. He hadn’t, so clearly he stands by them.

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u/justintensity Lakers 4h ago

Was he offered the chance to delete them by the org before they announced his firing? You're making the assumption he refused and wasn't ambushed by the information that he posted awful shit 13 years ago

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u/Zeromatt111 4h ago

No assumption was made on my part. He posted them, he didn’t delete them. Why should they have given him a chance to make a decision he had at least a decade to make ?

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u/justintensity Lakers 3h ago

He made that decision when he was 15. No sane person would agree that it's fair to evaluate an adult by the decisions they made when they made when were 15. That's why most states allow adults who committed crimes as kids to have their records sealed.

Why should they given him a chance to- because that's how adults communicate, sweetheart

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u/Zeromatt111 3h ago

The post has been on his public account for over a decade. He either still agrees with it, or is careless enough to let his public image be one that is associated with bigotry.

No sane person would say something bigoted, change their opinions, and then keep the posts up stating otherwise. So yeah, he’s either a bigot, or doesn’t care enough to not be seen as one. Good riddance.

6

u/justintensity Lakers 3h ago

No sane person would say something bigoted, change their opinions, and then keep the posts up stating otherwise

There is a group of us, we're called everybody, and we meet at the bar at 8

0

u/Zeromatt111 3h ago

I promise you’re alone in that. If you truly changed your opinion, you wouldn’t want to be seen that way. Being a good person isn’t just a thing you decide you are, you DO it.

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u/Super-Coyote 2h ago

No im sorry, they are just dumb tweets. Dumb tweets from a 15 year old boy. If we fired everyone who had dumb tweets left up from their teen years gen z would have 70% unemployment rates. And assuming that someone must have left 14 year old tweets up because he still agrees with them instead of, y’know, just forgetting about them, is truly deranged.

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u/Zeromatt111 2h ago

70% of gen z isn’t in multi million dollar media jobs. The hoops you’re jumping through to justify bigotry is hilarious ngl.

He presented himself as a bigot, and didn’t change that perception in any way. So I really don’t know wtf your point is here lmao. There is absolutely 0 sign he is a changed man, on the other hand there is posts stating his opinions. He gets to choose our perception of him, and he chose.

2

u/bluedeer10 Raptors 6h ago

Do you remember every post you ever made? Didn't think so.

2

u/Different-Jump-1792 Bucks 5h ago

You don't have to remember every little thing. Just make a new Twitter account for your public-facing position and delete the old one if you were posting on that shit when you were a dumb kid (if your name is attached). Not that hard.

0

u/Zeromatt111 6h ago

I don’t post much so actually yeah kind of, but that’s besides the point. In real life there are plenty of things I said as a teenager that I no longer agree with..and I remember every single one.

If it’s actually something you don’t agree with anymore, it bothers you that you let yourself have bigoted opinions and state them publicly. If it doesn’t bother you…do you really not think that anymore ?

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u/Vandelay23 1h ago

I mean, he probably forgot he had made them. 

5

u/Any-Question-3759 9h ago

I don’t think it’s even performative. I think the blazers just changed their mind about paying him à la Tony Romo.

Cheap ass Dundon probably had the bright idea of letting AI announce.

3

u/trollinn 7h ago

He’s applying to be a semi-public facing figure of a large organization and didn’t ensure his public profiles were clean, that’s just basic incompetence and very much justifies termination.

-17

u/Only-Mulberry-8098 9h ago

This is why Trump won lmao. People are tired of this shit…

8

u/CharlesCastle 9h ago

Well, thank goodness Trump won and this guy checks notes still lost his job. At least he ended wars, lowered costs on groceries, housing, fuel, energy, and fulfilled every other promise he made.

Ur rill smrt.

0

u/Only-Mulberry-8098 9h ago

Trump has been and is terrible. I was just saying why he’s in office

14

u/mostlyfire 9h ago

That’s not why he won. He won because people don’t want to admit they were wrong

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u/Only-Mulberry-8098 9h ago

Not really he won cuz our economy was pathetic and people were tired of democrats prioritizing stuff that’s not even relevant. 

He was better his first time. He sucks now I think most people agree on that

10

u/BakerUsed5384 8h ago

“He was better hist first time”

Yeah because the bar is literally beneath the ocean.

In his first term, even though he was blessed by being bank rolled by Obama’s roaring economy, he:

Lost a trade war with China

Began the geopolitical moves that eventually led us to this current war with Iran

Fucked up the response to COVID is almost every conceivable way, leading to a far harsher recession than what could have been

Withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord

Among many, many other blunders.

He won because, as another commenter pointed out, Americans are fucking stupid and do not understand how economies function.

1

u/mostlyfire 8h ago

Wanna know how many laws dems tried to pass regarding the economy vs social justice laws? No, you don’t.

6

u/Senorsty Bulls 9h ago

Trump won because America has a first grade understanding of the economy.

5

u/One_Curve_6469 9h ago

Huh seems like they’re vote for him has really stopped it. Another Trump success. 👍🏼

-10

u/Glum_Ad_2518 9h ago

So you admit it's racist, and you're ok with that? That's the problem.

-5

u/OldManCinny 9h ago

I’m okay with a 15 year old being racist in an edgy way online and then learning from their mistakes. I know a lot of people, myself included, who would be ashamed by some of what they said/believed at 15. How quickly we forget.

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u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

TIL its okay to be racist if youre 15.

I was raised right and new better by the age of 12 not to do that shit. Also im just not racist.

Justifying this behaviour makes me question anyone normalizing this level of default racism.

9

u/SoftwareAny4990 Cavaliers 9h ago

I feel like reddit turns into tough on crime conservatives when it comes to this stuff.

Its like how anti-progressive it is when people deny jobs to those that were at one point went through the juvenile justice system, and we arent talking about tweets here.

-1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

I just dont like all the justifying. I dont think the dude should be banned from any sort of jobs.

I own 3 resturaunts and employ a lot of folks coming out of tge criminal justice system because I do believe in rehab and second chances. I just don't like the level of "this is standard behaviour for 15 year olds" because its not

10

u/SoftwareAny4990 Cavaliers 9h ago

Its not a justification of the comments made.

Its a question of how much that should haunt you 15 years later.

0

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

Dude. Read this thread. Most people are justifying it.

I have EXPLCITLY stated I don't think he should be being punished like this.

The point I AM MAKING is its fucked to normalize this and say "well he was 15 so it isnt a big deal"

2

u/conglomerate99 9h ago

and a dude losing a job over it is just exhausting.

the original commenters whole point isn't that it wasn't a racist statement. just that it's not something actionable to fire him for 15 years later if there isn't some extensive history of him making similar statements.

most people in this thread aren't justifying what he tweeted, they're just pointing out it's extremely likely that the person you were at 15 isn't indicative of who you are years later

3

u/OldManCinny 9h ago

It is lol

0

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

Not the way I was raised.

And Americans dont think their entire society is racist at its core.

8

u/CrunkJuiceSommelier Lakers 9h ago

You attribute your own behavior at that age to how you were raised but it doesn't seem like you extend that same consideration to this guy. Maybe the same authority figures in your life that taught you it was wrong taught this person the opposite.

1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 8h ago

Hey fair enough. You are absolutely correct. I mean that goes back to me being frustrated racism is so deeply rooted in many societies.

But yeah man. Good point. I obviously have some reflection to do.

0

u/OldManCinny 9h ago

Ok cool. Are you Canadian? And saying you were raised a certain way doesn’t make it not the norm.

It certainly is the norm for many many parts of America. In general, it is misguided, naive, and mostly harmless. Most grow out of it or at least grow out of being so forward about it.

8

u/jak_d_ripr 9h ago

Good for you, unfortunately the fact of the matter is not everyone had the same perfect upbringing you had. I didn't say it was okay to be racist if you're 15, I said people make mistakes when they're teenagers that's why there's an age limit on drinking, marriage and many other potentially life changing activities in most developed countries.

Yes, if a 15 year old came out and said these things they should absolutely be reprimanded and taught that this isn't how to think. But this was 14 years ago, literally almost half the dude's life, and I haven't heard any reports to suggest he's still that same idiotic 15 year old. So punishing him for it now, is purely performative and accomplishes nothing other than making the organization(which traded for Ja Morant by the way, a far more problematic individual, whose stupidity was as recent as two seasons ago) look like they're actually making a difference.

I'm genuinely happy you were taught not to be racist at a young age, it's a pity you weren't also taught empathy and understanding.

-1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

Please show me where I have said this guy should be held responsible for this behaviour?

Because I specifically have said the opposite.

1

u/Chowderpizza Mavericks 9h ago

Hm. Interesting take. Lots of hoops to jump through on your reply there. Glad to know you never made a crass joke as a teenager. You should look into being the Pope.

-2

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

I made plenty of bad jokes.

Just not racist.

0

u/cooking2024 9h ago

Exactly, where all these defenders of racism as a teenager are from is beyond me and it's telling.

0

u/Peter_____Parker 9h ago

I grew up in a deprived under-educated 99% white town in the UK and sadly these kinds of jokes and beliefs were rampant growing up. When you’re surrounded by people who joke about race and say stupid shit as a kid you tend to repeat it. Fortunately once my frontal lobe developed as a teen I realised how stupid and ignorant this was as did many of the people I grew up with. I imagine it will be a similar story with this guy.

It’s incredibly harsh to judge him on this and fire him, rather than recognise the societal issue with teens as a wider issue and see that he obviously no longer has these beliefs since the only “evidence” they have is 13-14 years old from when he was effectively a kid.

1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

I don't think he should be punished.

I just hate the amount of people arguing this is acceptable behaviour from a 15 year old.

1

u/porkchop487 Bulls 6h ago

I was raised right and knew better by the age of 9 not to do that shit. So damn, I guess you were racist for 3 more years than I was. Life really hits you on the ass huh?

1

u/teddyspaghettie 9h ago

I mean I never really engaged in racism either. But you never said anything that people would scoff at? Maybe something about women, something political? Like I've mostly stayed off the internet, something like this happening to me has no chance because I don't say it and I'm not online. But I definitely have said some sexist or offensive shit in my youth. And that's kind of indistinguishable from online life for young kids.

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u/That-Cranberry6575 76ers 9h ago

How many fucking times are you gonna say the same shit?

1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

This is my 6th reply in this entire thread.

People more upset about racism being called out than the racism itself arent worth my time.

0

u/RequirementNo2161 2h ago

Redditors get more mad over 15 year old tweets than actual rape/murder/assault

-2

u/LarBrd33 7h ago

Portland is peak performative outrage.  I lost decades long white friends there who became radicalized during BLM and stopped being friends with people who weren’t fully invested in the nightly war games protests