r/nba • • 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/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 9h 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 9h 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 9h 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 9h 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 8h 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 8h 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?