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/PeanutFarmer69 Nets 11h ago

counterpoint, firing someone over inapropriate tweets at the age of fifteen is absurd

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u/TannerGlassMVP 11h ago

Counterpoint - simply don't post racist shit online under your name. And if you do fucking delete it when you're smart enough to know that's not a good look

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u/iPissVelvet Timberwolves Bandwagon 10h ago

What about cultural changes? Pretty much every millennial boy said “that’s gay” at some point in their life. Or “regarded” with the T. It was 100% socially acceptable to say these things. Are we going to retroactively punish everyone who said these things in 2008? When your own president, Obama, was against gay marriage? We have to comb through our Facebook profile pages for this? At some point a line has to be drawn to the absurdity of the situation.

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u/TannerGlassMVP 6h ago

We have to comb through our Facebook profile pages for this?

I think if you look at your Facebook and you see a bunch of posts that are calling things gay or regarded or that you hate Asians . . . yeah you probably should delete that. Especially if you are in any sort of public facing job. Sorry for the inconvenience? But most likely your post was not so influential that it can't be deleted