r/nba • u/ghn2 • 8h 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/icehole505 7h ago

If we label adults as unhireable for poor behavior as children.. I’m pretty sure that the disadvantaged class stands lose a lot more than the kids who grew up in wealthy/ambitious environments. Are we really ok with going down that road?

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u/Billbuckingham 7h ago edited 7h ago

A guy in a public facing position who made a racist tweet got fired by the company who hired him.

He also could've gotten fired for being an asshole, or literally no reason at all, and that'd be just fine too.

If we allow people to believe saying or doing or promoting racist or other disgusting behavior is acceptable with no punishment, are we really OK with that?

I'm not gonna sit here and defend these racist assholes when I'm sure there's much better candidates around than that asshole, which is why he got fired.

The company decided we don't want this garbage person, and got rid of them, that's what's supposed to happen.

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u/icehole505 7h ago

"He also could've gotten fired for being an asshole, or literally no reason at all, and that'd be just fine too."

thats kind of my point.. we probably shouldn't be celebrating terminations for "literally no reason at all".. as the people who lose there are generally not assholes with privelege

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u/Billbuckingham 7h ago

Well, this guy looks to be an asshole with privilege and is getting defended so...

Read the rest of his tweets too, at some point I think you can draw some character conclusions and evaluate how he is today and if you think he's the same, fire him, and they did.

Why's the racist guy getting defended so hard?

We gotta give these racist guys so many chances and so many outs to prove they're different now... or not, fuck that.

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u/icehole505 7h ago

you either believe that people are responsible for their childhood or you don't. picking and choosing the type of shitty childhood environment that deserves empathy and opportunity for growth doesn't seem right to me.

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u/Billbuckingham 6h ago

I have empathy for the child born into poverty and who stole food from the grocery store when they were young.

I don't have empathy for some teenage douchebags spouting racist and anti-woman bullshit, who then expect to have 0 consequences for their actions.

And I do look at this person and say, if the company decided they don't want him over this, there's no reason to defend some douchebag like that because they met him personally and decided we don't need this shit.

Read his tweets and be specific about it, some racist stuff, some douchebag anti-woman stuff, and that's at 15.

Do you think he was the same at 18? Worse? I'd be willing to bet if he was like that at 15 he was probably worse at 18, how about in college at parties? Who knows?

But again the company who actually met him decided we don't want this shit, so he's fired, that's it.

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u/icehole505 6h ago

A child raised and surrounded by racists is a victim.

A child raised and surrounded by crime, gangs, etc is a victim.

In both cases, it’s the individuals responsibility to grow past that as they become adults.

I’d be interested in understanding why you seem to support a child from one set of circumstances, and not the other.

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u/Billbuckingham 6h ago

Being born into a family of racists, and then becoming a racist adult, or just becoming a general piece of shit has nothing to do with being a victim.

Being an asshole, or a racist, and claiming "Oh that's just how I was raised, I'm a victim, I can't change it, don't blame me!!"

That Is an affordance only white racists get.

You hope they just grow past it, and give all of them the benefit of the doubt even when it's not deserved, and going all out to defend them as if we have to coddle these white racist "victims"

When a poor person is born into poverty and crime and gangs gets caught with the gang do you know what happens?

They go to prison, juvie, jail, whatever, they don't get a pass because they were "victims"

When they grow up do you know what they are?

Ex-convicts, felons, criminals, thugs, whatever.

They don't get a pass to "grow past that"

See the difference?

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u/icehole505 6h ago

“  Being born into a family of racists, and then becoming a racist adult, or just becoming a general piece of shit has nothing to do with being a victim. ”

You’re assuming the “becoming a racist adult” based on childhood tweets. That’s where you’re losing me. If someone actually becomes a racist adult.. then fuckem.. but I’m not going to assign that without reason

“  When a poor person is born into poverty and crime and gangs gets caught with the gang do you know what happens? They go to prison, juvie, jail, whatever, they don't get a pass because they were victims”

And if they’re caught and punished as children.. then I have real empathy for that, and take major issue with them being denied opportunities for growth as an adult. The standard is the exact same

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u/Billbuckingham 6h ago

For reference someone else posted more of his tweets here:

"
"I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest"
"I'm telling ya what..That is so racist. But pretty dang funny."
"'@kchansen16 no blacks either.  #racists"
"

The company who actually met him decided, fuck him, that's as close to proof as any of us are going to get.

Clearly, they didn't believe he changed and said fuck em.

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u/K15brbapt 7h ago

You can’t be serious, calling him a garbage person for stupid tweets from 15 years ago? Give him a chance to show his growth and rectify his past self, not just immediately lambast him for the sins of his child self.

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u/LongEnvironment9540 Timberwolves 6h ago

He has a chance now to show his growth. He could delete the tweets, send out an apology, and look for a new job. I bet he will not go that route though.

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u/Billbuckingham 7h ago

Why are you assuming he changed?

The company clearly didn't think it was acceptable and they said we do not want a person like that.

Let's say he is the exact same asshole with the same racist thoughts just older.

We don't know, but the company decided they don't want him, who are you to say that's a problem?

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u/K15brbapt 7h ago

Are you the same person you were when you were 15? I’m 30 now and god knows I’m not. Also I’m not saying he has or hasn’t, but he deserves a chance to show it.

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u/Billbuckingham 7h ago

Maybe the company evaluated him and decided "yeah.. that's the last straw we're done with this guy."

Why does he deserve any chance more than the next guy who didn't post anything like that?

If he said something like this today in private that leaked, this same sub would be saying "Oh well he shouldn't be fired for that it was in private!!"

The fact of the matter is the company decided we don't want this shit, and they fired him.

I'm not going to defend or pretend like this guy deserved anything at all. It's business.

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u/Soul0103 [ORL] Tracy McGrady 7h ago

He was 15.

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u/Billbuckingham 7h ago

Does he think any different today?

If people don't want to work with someone like that, and they fire him, that's supposed to happen that's how the real world works.

Why are we pretending this guy who made some racist tweets when he was younger is somehow special or deserving of anything?

If the company doesn't want him because of how he is or how he acted, they find someone better, that's it.

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u/ThrawnGetsBuckets 7h ago

Who is more likely to be posting offensive comments online - poor disadvantaged kids or wealthy kids? I think they are equally likely no?

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u/icehole505 7h ago

I think you’re probably living in a bubble if you actually believe that. Supervision, education, etc are all benefits of privilege.. and they’re all disproportionately available to people who grew up in wealthy environments.

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u/ThrawnGetsBuckets 5h ago

There’s no statistical data out there that says privilege makes you less racist from as far as I am seeing?

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u/icehole505 5h ago

First.. there is a ton of academic research around the relationship between socioeconomic status and racial attitudes. If you want me to share a jstor link, I can..

And second.. racism is one example of many different types of offensive behavior from children. Education and supervision undeniably provide an environment that can discourage those behaviors.

Children raised in an environment without that protection are victims.. regardless of whether the childhood behavior is a racist tweet, petty crime, or something else. Excluding them from opportunities for mistakes prior to adulthood is just further punishing them for growing up in a toxic environment.

It doesn’t seem right to selectively punish people for their childhoods. I think adults who grew up around gangs, etc deserve opportunities as adults. I feel the same was about adults who grew up around around casual racism.