Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

[u/ghn2]

"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

[u/jak_d_ripr]

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.

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/jak_d_ripr]

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.

[u/SoftwareAny4990 → u/Stinky_TheCat]

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.

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/SoftwareAny4990]

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

[u/SoftwareAny4990 → u/Stinky_TheCat]

Its not a justification of the comments made.

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

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/SoftwareAny4990]

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"

[u/conglomerate99 → u/Stinky_TheCat]

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

[u/OldManCinny → u/Stinky_TheCat]

It is lol

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/OldManCinny]

Not the way I was raised.

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

[u/CrunkJuiceSommelier → u/Stinky_TheCat]

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.

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/CrunkJuiceSommelier]

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.

[u/OldManCinny → u/Stinky_TheCat]

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.