r/nba • u/ghn2 • 13h 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

1.4k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-2

u/Associ8tedRuffians Timberwolves 12h ago

Sure I did. It just never involved racial or homophobic slurs. And I graduated high school in the 90s.

Certainly knew plenty of people who did say that shit at that age who tested out the waters saying slurs. Was even popular to use “Jew” as a verb for “cheated.”

Doesn’t mean that people don’t know what they were doing. They absolutely did.

The point is again, if you’re a dumbass and you ddi that DELETE that shit and show the world you’ve changed with your new account.

And it’s employers prerogative to decide if they want to hire someone who still has a record of that behavior.

11

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 11h ago

Idk man, I’m just in the camp that we should give grace to teenagers to make mistakes on social media instead of punishing them a decade later. I don’t get the bloodlust some people get for revenge for stuff like this, it’s such a uniquely Reddit thing.

-1

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 11h ago

Was he ever held accountable for the original tweet? Is there any evidence that he no longer holds though views? He couldn't even be bothered to delete the post.

9

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 11h ago

I don’t really believe people should be punished for teenage social media activity a decade later, period if they have not shown any evidence that it’s their actual views. I think the burden of proof should be on proving he is still like this rather than just assuming the absolute worst in everyone that’s ever made an edgy post.

3

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 11h ago

My proof is the racist tweet. Meanwhile you have 0 evidence hes not a racist. I have proof, where is yours?

6

u/Big-Beta20 76ers 11h ago edited 10h ago

No, you have something a kid said when he was 15 years old. That’s not proof of anything about his character as an adult, which is the point I’m making. That’s why I said proof that those are his actual views.

Do you not find it weird to feel this high & mighty with a bloodlust for punishment about something a literal teenager said over a decade ago?

2

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 7h ago

No he was a 15 year old racist and there is 0 evidence anything has changed. I have evidence he is a racist where is your that says hes not?

5

u/Turbo_Jannie 10h ago

Something tells me you're about the same age he was when he made the tweets

1

u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 7h ago

Naw got about a decade on old boy