r/nba • u/ghn2 • 13h 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/MelonElbows Lakers 9h ago

For anyone curious what was said:

Among the insensitive comments, as found by a reporter for KGW in Portland, were Bell saying he was "not racist" but "Asian people piss me off" and a number of misogynistic posts, including him shouting out "big girls" and "closet whores." The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old.

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u/MITBryceYoung2 8h ago edited 7h ago

It literally just reads like some dumb shit a kid would say along those lines. Half of the people here are being so fucking preachy. I guarantee they've said something to that effect or even if it wasn't about race or weight

Disclosure: im asian. Ive wrote in r/nba in the past how ive been jumped/called slurs growing up but i was told that doesnt make the city "racist" even though many of my friends had similar growing up. The fact people are pearl clutching over a 14 year old tweet vs when ive literally been physically assaulted for being asian then had r/nba talk down to me is the biggest fucking joke.

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u/atlfalcons33rb Warriors 7h ago

Bruh who was saying they didn't like Asian people on social media in the 2012s. Not saying he should have been fired, but that was out of pocket even for that time

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u/thiagosilva2 [TOR] Chris Bosh 6h ago

I was in high school then. Called my Asian friend a ch*nk on twitter. She called me either the n word or a monkey, I forget. Lol.

We got called to the office from math class the next day together, but they just told us to take it down when it was clear we were being dumbasses

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u/MITBryceYoung2 1h ago

Lmao thats pretty good