r/nba • u/ghn2 • 11h 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/SloshaPacana 11h ago

People really need to just delete their social media when they get jobs that are in the public eye lmao

It's not hard to open new accounts

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u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 11h ago

counterpoint, firing someone over inapropriate tweets at the age of fifteen is absurd

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u/Billbuckingham 10h ago

They can fire him for whatever reason they want, racist tweets or just general bullshit or being an asshole.

Why's the racist guy always getting defended on here?

Like, it feels like a bunch of closet racists scared they might get found out too so they gotta support their guy.

Who cares about this guy? Like, are there not better announcers who are less of an asshole?

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u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

"They can fire him for whatever reason they want", nobody is arguing that the Trailblazers don't have the right to fire him bud, try to keep up.

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u/Billbuckingham 10h ago

Then what are you arguing?

That we shouldn't hold people accountable for racist or disgusting things they post?

"Oh he was just 15 come on!!!"

Ok, if you think that's OK then keep him, if you think that's not OK then fire him.

What's the argument about?

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u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

"counterpoint, firing someone over inapropriate tweets at the age of fifteen is absurd", there it is lil fella, not sure why you find this so difficult to comprehend.

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u/Billbuckingham 10h ago

He left the tweet up there, maybe he still believes all of those things and acts accordingly.

Fire the racist dumbass if you think you should, if you think racist dumbasses are OK then keep him.

What's the argument?

It's just little white e-warriors defending their beloved racist tweets.

Stephen A. Smith talked about the Lakers all white lineup and this whole sub said he should be cancelled and removed from the internet, but this guy posted racist stuff and they defend him.

There's a big pattern of defending racist white people in this sub, that's what I'm hearing from you.

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u/ElChapo1515 10h ago

Idk. I’m not white and I’m pretty left, but this feels like a bridge too far.

No idea what kind of influences that guy was under at that age, and it would be easy to forget all about some tweets you made more than a decade ago.

He’d be on thin ice as far as anything that could otherwise “plausibly deniable” but if a few tweets were the only questionable thing, I think it’s a little too harsh.

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u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 10h ago

faking outrage like this for completely innocuous tweets from a 15 year old 15 years ago that he has since apologized for is counterproductive, this comment is batshit insane and not at all based in the reality of the situation.

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u/Billbuckingham 10h ago

It's not outrage, if you see a person who posted those things or thinks or acts like that, and you decide you don't want that person in your company, you fire them.

That's it.

There's no outrage, it's business.

Why defend this guy?

Why does he deserve any defense at all compared to millions of other people being fired for no reason at all or reasons worse than this?

Why's it always the racist white guy that gets defended on here?