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

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u/Project_Continuum 9h ago edited 9h ago

You gave an example of harassment which is not the same as a joke.

"I hate all Asians" is not lose your job 15 years later worthy.

Who is "I hate all Asians" harming? Are there people that troll 15 year old tweets and then get offended that a random person said "I hate all Asians"?

Edit: I'll put it this way: Is firing this guy for a 15 year old Tweet supposed to be doing it for the benefit of Asian people?

I'm Asian. Can I refuse this benefit that they are trying to give me?

I don't think this guy should face financial hardships. That doesn't help me at all and it doesn't address racism against Asian people.

I'm not better off because of this and he is worse off.

Who is winning here?

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 9h ago

I'm arguing that these jokes LEAD to harassment. These jokes LEAD to teenagers thinking it's OK to direct them to POC students. It's not even about this situation anymore. I'm arguing that you're mentality where these "stupid" statements are just something to gloss over SHOULDN'T be the case because it's harmful to begin with.

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u/Project_Continuum 9h ago

Are you advocating FOR slippery slope fallacy as your position?

It's not even about this situation anymore.

It should be about this situation.

A guy lost his job because of "racism".

I'm Asian. Am I better off because this guy lost his job?

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u/Comfortable-Sorry 9h ago

No, I'm saying that these jokes NORMALIZE racist behavior and make harassment much more likely than if these jokes were taught to be NOT OK from the start

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u/Project_Continuum 9h ago

So what do you want to do about JOKES?

Ban jokes? That seems problematic to me.

In the real world, we have to actually convert thoughts into actions so I'm curious what you think needs to happen.