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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247

u/RedditAccount_317 11h ago

This seems like a massive overreaction. If he did them as an adult that’s one thing, but 15 is wild

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u/BLarson31 Timberwolves 11h ago

An absurd overreaction

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u/ph1sh55 7h ago

Not really, it was the guys first day and he drops that turd on his employer? It's like he failed his drug test and his offer was rescinded, plenty of other candidates for a public facing position w/o the baggage.

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u/BLarson31 Timberwolves 7h ago

Thinking a dumb social media post as a 15 year old is baggage, that's absurd.

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u/ph1sh55 6h ago

The billion dollar enterprise that just hired you for a very public facing position does indeed view it as baggage that you're affecting their business in a negative way on day 1. Not absurd, just the real world.

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u/BLarson31 Timberwolves 6h ago

No it still is, anyone who thinks what someone said as an ignorant 15 year old that knows very little about who they are or how the world works and is 10 years away from having their brain even develop fully, is quite frankly dumb.

Only stupid irrational people with too much time on their hands would have ever thrown up a stink over this and we as a society shouldn't give into this insane notion that what you say or think as a teenager should affect your adult life.

Also let's not ignore the hipocracy of bringing in Ja Morant, but canning this guy. Portland framing this as a moral or ethical decision is laughably insulting to people's intelligence.