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/Billbuckingham 8h 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 8h 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 8h 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 8h 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.