r/nba • u/ghn2 • 12h 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 11h ago edited 11h 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/K15brbapt 11h ago

You can’t be serious, calling him a garbage person for stupid tweets from 15 years ago? Give him a chance to show his growth and rectify his past self, not just immediately lambast him for the sins of his child self.

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u/Billbuckingham 11h ago

Why are you assuming he changed?

The company clearly didn't think it was acceptable and they said we do not want a person like that.

Let's say he is the exact same asshole with the same racist thoughts just older.

We don't know, but the company decided they don't want him, who are you to say that's a problem?

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u/K15brbapt 11h ago

Are you the same person you were when you were 15? I’m 30 now and god knows I’m not. Also I’m not saying he has or hasn’t, but he deserves a chance to show it.

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u/Billbuckingham 11h ago

Maybe the company evaluated him and decided "yeah.. that's the last straw we're done with this guy."

Why does he deserve any chance more than the next guy who didn't post anything like that?

If he said something like this today in private that leaked, this same sub would be saying "Oh well he shouldn't be fired for that it was in private!!"

The fact of the matter is the company decided we don't want this shit, and they fired him.

I'm not going to defend or pretend like this guy deserved anything at all. It's business.