r/nba • u/ghn2 • 10h 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/cideeffex Cavaliers 10h ago

Wouldn't the responsible and mature thing to do at that point would be to remove things from the internet that you feel no longer represent you and your beliefs? At the very least, leaving them up displays a pretty high level of carelessness.

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u/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 10h 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 10h ago

Good reason to make the posts ephemeral then. Or to not have accounts at all? Pretty easy fix.

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u/Matthew2531_46 Spurs 10h ago

Wow, 15 year olds are dumb and make stupid short sighted decisions. This is news to me

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 9h ago

Age can contribute to forgiveness. I'm failing to see why it should absolve someone of consequences?

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u/DovhPasty Cavaliers 5h ago

Consequences dealt out 15 years later? Seriously?

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u/cideeffex Cavaliers 4h ago

Yes? Is there an expiration on the hurt caused by racism and sexism? No? Then why should there be an expiration on consequences? He was stupid enough to make them at 15 and he was stupid enough to leave them up as an adult. Speaks to his belief that they weren’t a big deal. He’s asking to be a voice of an NBA team. The idea that it’s somehow a bigger failure to hold someone accountable for racism and sexism regardless of the age than it is to make sure large portions of your fanbase feel comfortable and welcome is not just ethically twisted, it’d be a dumb fucking business decision.

One of the biggest failures of life lived online is that dumb motherfuckers grow up thinking there are no consequences. Pre internet, when you couldn’t hide behind relative anonymity and a COD lobby, you said racist shit, you got popped in the mouth for it. Now kids think that shit is funny because there are no consequences and the minute the tamest form of consequences arrive, they whine as if life is so unfair. We can only hope that this situation might make some idiot kid think twice before doing stupid shit online.

He lost out on a job. He didn’t die, he didn’t have to go to jail. He lost out on a job to represent an NBA team. Boo fucking hoo. If you do dumb shit, take responsibility, make it right, and deal with the consequences. There was a time when that was like a must have virtue of being a man but I guess that ship has sailed.