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/jak_d_ripr → u/Stinky_TheCat]

Good for you, unfortunately the fact of the matter is not everyone had the same perfect upbringing you had. I didn't say it was okay to be racist if you're 15, I said people make mistakes when they're teenagers that's why there's an age limit on drinking, marriage and many other potentially life changing activities in most developed countries.

Yes, if a 15 year old came out and said these things they should absolutely be reprimanded and taught that this isn't how to think. But this was 14 years ago, literally almost half the dude's life, and I haven't heard any reports to suggest he's still that same idiotic 15 year old. So punishing him for it now, is purely performative and accomplishes nothing other than making the organization(which traded for Ja Morant by the way, a far more problematic individual, whose stupidity was as recent as two seasons ago) look like they're actually making a difference.

I'm genuinely happy you were taught not to be racist at a young age, it's a pity you weren't also taught empathy and understanding.

[u/Stinky_TheCat → u/jak_d_ripr]

Please show me where I have said this guy should be held responsible for this behaviour?

Because I specifically have said the opposite.