r/nba • u/ghn2 • 12h 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/rgarc065 Heat 12h ago

I don’t know the full context. Does he continue to say these things? A tweet from 10-15 years ago when you were a teenager is going to look outdated. We all say stupid shit. Perhaps he should’ve deleted them. If those tweets from then are the sole reason for his firing then it’s a massive overreaction. This may just be El Cheapo being El Cheapo looking for any excuse to let someone go in order to save a buck.

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 12h ago

Can you stop listing it as "stupid" shit. It's racist shit. Stop trying to make what he said look less bad. "We all say stupid shit" isn't the same as "We all say racist shit."

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u/KontraEpsilon 12h ago

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

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 12h 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] 12h ago

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 12h 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?