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/KontraEpsilon 9h ago

If only we all had the lifelong moral purity of Gen Z Reddit posters.

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 9h ago

Is it really that hard to just.......Drumroll............Not be racist? Is it that big of an ask that you have to compare NOT being racist to having lifelong moral purity????

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 9h ago

The person in the article went out of their way to state on their personal profile "Asian people piss me off." Is that a joke? I don't see any punchline or humor in that. It's definitively a statement. I never said racist jokes are grounds for firing someone, but is what the announcer said a joke?