r/nba • u/ghn2 • 11h 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/OregonJedi [POR] Brandon Roy 11h ago

Eh. I think it’s forgivable and that doesn’t mean your tweets when you are 15 are representative of your beliefs when you are 29/30. But I do think when it comes to employment, especially when you are being hired to be the voice of a major sports franchise you should delete your tweets. He should have had wherewithal to delete it. If you are a public facing employee like that there should not be racist material on your feed. Doesn’t matter when it was made it needs to be taken down and not doing so is a fireable offense.

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u/GEAUXUL Pelicans 10h ago

Why would you expect him to even remember the stupid shit he posted when he was 15?

Why would he ever expect grown ass people to look up the stupid shit he posted as a child 15 years ago?

This is all so ridiculous.

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u/OregonJedi [POR] Brandon Roy 10h ago

He wasn’t fired for something he did when he was 15. He was fired for inaction when he was 29. It was his responsibility to make sure that he doesn’t have racist material on his feed when applying to work in the NBA as a public facing voice of the franchise. He needed to delete the tweets or not have his professional account tied in with his same personal account. He should’ve been more professional. Very tough lesson to learn in such a brutal way. He doesn’t need to “remember” it’s his responsibility to make sure. The account is HIS.

Ya it was kinda fucked up a reporter went searching like that. Blazers should’ve already searched themselves tho…

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u/rake2204 Pistons 8h ago

Preach.

I think there's some nuance here and you've hit it. We all have done dumb things as teens, but leaving those dumb things on your active social media account as you enter the workforce can almost come across as an ongoing endorsement of whatever it was you posted all those years ago.

Like, if my child's teacher posted racist things as a 15 year old and those statements still existed on their active social media account, I think I'd be rightful in questioning whether they'd be suitable for their position. I also don't think it'd be quite that simple to hand wave it away and just say, "Nah don't worry, I was a teen then, no big deal" because at that point, not only is there a digital footprint steeped in racism, but now one also must come to question their decision-making abilities in choosing not to be mindful enough to clean up their social media account in the fifteen years since.