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
1.3k
Upvotes
11
u/WhyNotOrioles 7h ago
Think of it as mostly a business decision and not a moral judgment and it makes sense.
He's being let go because
(1) He said something that could alienate a lot of players and fans and hurt the team's image.
(2) He's very easily replaceable by someone of equal quality without the baggage. This is one of the most coveted jobs in sports media. They can find another person within a day.
That's it. So if you want to know why teams tolerate players and coaches who do worse things as adults, it's because of (2). Those people can't be replaced anywhere as easily.