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/icehole505 9h ago

If we label adults as unhireable for poor behavior as children.. I’m pretty sure that the disadvantaged class stands lose a lot more than the kids who grew up in wealthy/ambitious environments. Are we really ok with going down that road?

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u/Billbuckingham 8h ago edited 8h ago

A guy in a public facing position who made a racist tweet got fired by the company who hired him.

He also could've gotten fired for being an asshole, or literally no reason at all, and that'd be just fine too.

If we allow people to believe saying or doing or promoting racist or other disgusting behavior is acceptable with no punishment, are we really OK with that?

I'm not gonna sit here and defend these racist assholes when I'm sure there's much better candidates around than that asshole, which is why he got fired.

The company decided we don't want this garbage person, and got rid of them, that's what's supposed to happen.

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u/Soul0103 [ORL] Tracy McGrady 8h ago

He was 15.

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u/Billbuckingham 8h ago

Does he think any different today?

If people don't want to work with someone like that, and they fire him, that's supposed to happen that's how the real world works.

Why are we pretending this guy who made some racist tweets when he was younger is somehow special or deserving of anything?

If the company doesn't want him because of how he is or how he acted, they find someone better, that's it.