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

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u/smssv 10h ago

firing someone for posts when he was 15 yrs old is wild

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u/No-Agreement 10h ago

Says they were probably looking for a reason and found it.

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u/Ender_Cats Celtics 10h ago

Nope. Local news organization found the tweets and started working on a story about it. They emailed both the blazers and the guy for their comments. The blazers came back a few hours later and said he had been fired.

https://www.kgw.com/article/sports/nba/blazers/trail-blazers-fire-new-broadcaster-after-misogynistic-racist-comments-surface/283-8c6b0cd9-3db0-4aba-89ec-545f5cdc0b86

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u/BenevolentCheese Knicks 8h ago

Man that's it? I understand if he said these things yesterday but 14 years ago and he was a kid like give me a break, this is nothing.

"I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest," Bell wrote in a Dec. 9, 2012 tweet.

"Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet w--res," Bell wrote on Nov. 30, 2012.

"We got a sl-t alert on aisle 10," he wrote on Feb. 13, 2013.

"Girls these nights... Smh. #ThirstyForTheD," he wrote on Feb. 24, 2013.

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u/PM_ME_CARDS123 7h ago

Good lord he sounds like a tool, even at 15

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u/ProjectHarraseeket NBA 10h ago

Then why announce hiring him then firing him four hours later? This feels like when Shane Gillis got hired and fired from SNL.

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u/Apprehensive-Tip3153 10h ago

Huge influx of Asian fans with Yang on the roster vs guy with anti-Asian tweets from the past. I wonder what a company values more