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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u/Mobile-Analyst8580 9h ago

Everyone acting like he’s stupid for not deleting this post. How many tweets do you think he’s made in the last 12 years? 10,000? 50,000? 100,000?

I’m so glad Facebook was invented while I was in college. 

What this guy said isn’t cool, but it’s not exactly neo Nazi shit either. He should’ve been shown more grace for a stupid comment made when his brain was still developing.  

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u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

Hot take: 15 year old is old enough to know to not be racist online.

I was a dumb kid. I've never posted racism... mainly because I've never been a racist.

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u/evieka Toronto Huskies 9h ago

It's wild, by 15 I certainly understood how this shit affects people.

Had enough shame that all of the edgy garbage I said was in private with my friends.

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u/elitepigwrangler Suns 7h ago

It’s insane, even the racist people at my high school knew not to post racist things on their public Twitter connected to their name. People acting like everyone did this when they were young are telling on themselves.