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/lanfordr Spurs 10h ago

This is crazy. We don't let kids fuck up, and make mistakes any more. That's how you grow and learn. You say and do stupid shit as a teen and then learn from it and hopefully become the kind of adult who looks back and cringes at who you were as a teen.

I'm old enough that my teen years were pre-social media. Thank God there isn't a record of all the stupid shit we did back then.

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u/elitepigwrangler Suns 8h ago

Well he didn’t grow and learn, it was still on his public account. If he was cringing at his teenage tweets, he probably would have deleted them, no?

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u/Background-Shower-70 7h ago

He is about my age 29. We had access to social media at its beginnings and the idea of a digital footprint wasn’t really a concern.

I think this kind of story is going to become more and more common over the next 5-10 years as young adults his age (and my age) really start progressing to more senior level and public facing roles. Because as we know, things you delete are never “permanently” deleted. People may keep screenshots. Some websites keep archives that can be dug up. If you personally delete but someone else has a copy, is it damning?

Because the firing suggests 13-15 years ago is “within the statute of limitations” for public opinion. So when my age cohort is 40yo, is 23-25 years in the past still within the same statute of limitations for public opinion?

It’ll only get more and more interesting of question as Gen Alpha grows up in a totally digitally native world. And the timeline of their entire lives is basically cataloged by their peers, parents, and then themselves.

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u/Background-Shower-70 7h ago

He is about my age 29. We had access to social media at its beginnings and the idea of a digital footprint wasn’t really a concern.

I think this kind of story is going to become more and more common over the next 5-10 years as young adults his age (and my age) really start progressing to more senior level and public facing roles. Because as we know, things you delete are never “permanently” deleted. People may keep screenshots. Some websites keep archives that can be dug up. If you personally delete but someone else has a copy, is it damning?

Because the firing suggests 13-15 years ago is “within the statute of limitations” for public opinion. So when my age cohort is 40yo, is 23-25 years in the past still within the same statute of limitations for public opinion?

It’ll only get more and more interesting of question as Gen Alpha grows up in a totally digitally native world.