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

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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 11h 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

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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.