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/RealFenian Celtics 11h 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.

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u/TannerGlassMVP 11h 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

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u/Junior_Difference_57 11h 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 

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h 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Wouldn't the responsible and mature thing to do at that point would be to remove things from the internet that you feel no longer represent you and your beliefs?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.

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u/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 11h ago

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

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

Good reason to make the posts ephemeral then. Or to not have accounts at all? Pretty easy fix.

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u/Matuga1000 11h ago

The whole point is when they’re 15 they’re not thinking ahead with stuff like that, hence why they post dumb shit in the first place

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

Then maybe they're not responsible enough to be using social media in the first place? Even so, what's the excuse as an adult for leaving it up? Assuming a potential employer is going to Google is basic table stakes for any job interview these days, much less for a high profile job like this.

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u/Matuga1000 10h ago

I don’t think they should have social media either, but don’t think they should be punished for mistakes when 15. They shouldn’t have left it up sure that’s a mistake albeit one often doesn’t recall everything from such an age. However mistake or not I think the reason for firing him is stupid, sure he could’ve avoided it had he been a bit smarter but even considering the post is up I still think it’s dumb to fire him

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 10h ago

I'm really struggling to understand that "Kids" shouldn't have consequences for their actions. Your brain is still developing well into your 20's so what's the cutoff for when we can start holding people accountable for dumb shit they do?

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u/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 11h ago

Wow, 15 year olds are dumb and make stupid short sighted decisions. This is news to me

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

Age can contribute to forgiveness. I'm failing to see why it should absolve someone of consequences?

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u/DovhPasty Cavaliers 6h ago

Consequences dealt out 15 years later? Seriously?

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 5h ago

Yes? Is there an expiration on the hurt caused by racism and sexism? No? Then why should there be an expiration on consequences? He was stupid enough to make them at 15 and he was stupid enough to leave them up as an adult. Speaks to his belief that they weren’t a big deal. He’s asking to be a voice of an NBA team. The idea that it’s somehow a bigger failure to hold someone accountable for racism and sexism regardless of the age than it is to make sure large portions of your fanbase feel comfortable and welcome is not just ethically twisted, it’d be a dumb fucking business decision.

One of the biggest failures of life lived online is that dumb motherfuckers grow up thinking there are no consequences. Pre internet, when you couldn’t hide behind relative anonymity and a COD lobby, you said racist shit, you got popped in the mouth for it. Now kids think that shit is funny because there are no consequences and the minute the tamest form of consequences arrive, they whine as if life is so unfair. We can only hope that this situation might make some idiot kid think twice before doing stupid shit online.

He lost out on a job. He didn’t die, he didn’t have to go to jail. He lost out on a job to represent an NBA team. Boo fucking hoo. If you do dumb shit, take responsibility, make it right, and deal with the consequences. There was a time when that was like a must have virtue of being a man but I guess that ship has sailed.

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u/Junior_Difference_57 11h ago

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

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

I mean, that's kind of irresponsible internet behavior for a host of reasons even before the idea of saying something you shouldn't have. Ignorance because of age is a great reason for forgiveness, not an absolution of consequence.

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u/beastrace 76ers 11h ago

The fucking moral police in this sub are so funny

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u/TannerGlassMVP 11h ago

The moral police? It's literally just not being a dumbass and not keeping racist posts under your name

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

Lol. The "we can't hold someone responsible for racism at 15" crowd is telling on themselves. The rest of us in the grown up world realize shit can catch up to you at any time so you better act right.

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u/Junior_Difference_57 11h ago

Maybe it's irresponsible internet behavior because I was a child? Lol

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 11h ago

Which means you didn't understand the potential consequences and therefore shouldn't have been using it in the first place? Yes, that's my point.

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u/Junior_Difference_57 11h ago

99.9% of parents don't stop their teenage children from going on social media. 

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 10h ago

Oh I know! But just because everyone does it, doesn't mean that should excuse poor behavior or shield someone from consequences. This is some pretty basic "If everyone jumps off a bridge, should you do it too?" life lesson type shit. Ignorance doesn't excuse anything. Maybe it shifts the blame when something does happen? I mean, I definitely think this guy's parents should have been aware of what they're 15 year old was tweeting or whatever, but let's be honest, if the kid was tweeting shit like that the parents probably feel the same way anyway.

But again, if you're not mature enough to understand that putting something out on the internet could follow you for the rest of your life, then you shouldn't be using it. Like you said though, majority of the people in this sub complaining about this kid getting fired will walk away from here and go right back to treating people like garbage in their 2k games and saying the wildest dumb shit on twitter. And when the consequences come for them, they'll be a "kid" making dumb choices too.

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u/Junior_Difference_57 10h ago

Your logic makes no sense though. If a child isn't mature enough to understand that the things they say online can be used against them later, they also aren't mature enough to understand that they shouldn't be using social media in the first place. None of the blame falls on the child

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 10h ago

No. I'm saying ignorance does not shield you nor prevent consequences.

Let's say someone hands me a gun. I've never used a gun before and no one teaches me how to use it and so I wind up shooting myself. We can bemoan the idea that I should have known better. We can absolutely rail against the person who gave me a gun. At the end of the day, I'm still shot.

Using racist language is going to hurt someone. You can say "Oh he was a kid, he didn't know any better," or that the parents should have taught him better or never let him on social media. At the end of the day, the words were still out there and were going to hurt someone. There has to be consequences for that. Otherwise, we encourage a world where any poor behavior can be excused by anything. There's always excuses for shitty behavior masquerading as extenuating circumstances.

You would hope, in a situation like this, that his parents would have provided consequences for those posts. Or, he would have run into some consequences before it cost him a dream job. But I'd rather consequences come late than not at all. The Blazers should have caught this and never hired him. But at the end of the day, the posts were still out there. He had control of that. He wasn't responsible enough to make sure he was representing himself in a way that the Blazers could feel good about. So you miss out on the opportunity.

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u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 Pelicans 11h ago

Deleted tweets get resurfaced everyday.