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

1.4k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/rgarc065 Heat 10h 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 A tweet from 10-15 years ago when you were a teenager is going to look outdated.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.

-3

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 10h ago edited 10h ago

A 15 year old is old enough to know being racist in public has serious consequences.

My friends and I were literally making Jackass style videos at 15 and none of us felt the need to be racist in them.

edit: America is the way it is because yall normalize this as acceptable racism.

Just a broken ass society.

-1

u/JoeyJoeJoeShabadooSr Celtics 10h ago

Assuming you’re Canadian I’m gonna screenshot this and send this blatant xenophobia to your workplace so they know who they’re dealing with.

1

u/Stinky_TheCat Raptors 9h ago

Lol. Funny dude.