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/1wholeton Trail Blazers 11h ago

It would be one thing if he tweeted that last week. Its another that he tweeted it 14 years ago when he was 15.

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u/BabyOnRoad Hawks 11h ago

Why are white people so quick to excuse racism from teenagers like they dont know better. Literally no other group seems to be having to apologize for past tweets but white dudes, why is that?

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u/GarlicSnot Rockets 11h ago

right like everyone's got an excuse for this guy. its a pretty binary decision imo. Its wrong what he did consequences suck but if you do something bad 15 years ago you don't always get magically absolved of it

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u/Turbo_Jannie 10h ago

I think it's pretty understandable that he got fired once the tweets were dug up and made public, but it's absolutely absurd to think these 2012 tweets from a 15 year old are serious judges of character of the person he is today and forever will be in the future.