Portland Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past social media posts
The Portland Trail Blazers terminated the contract of newly hired play-by-play announcer Braiden Bell on the same day he was hired. The decision followed the discovery of inappropriate social media posts made by Bell as a teenager during 2012-13, with the team citing a zero-tolerance policy regarding the content.
First reported 18 hours ago · latest update 9 hours ago
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers fired new play-by-play television broadcaster Braiden Bell on Thursday when inappropriate social media posts that he made as a teenager resurfaced just hours after the team announced his hiring.
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the team said in a statement Thursday night. “Social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster.”
Bell had been the play-by-play announcer for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns before the Trail Blazers announced they had hired him on Thursday to replace longtime broadcaster Kevin Calabro.
Hours after the 29-year-old Bell was hired, posts surfaced that Bell made on his X account in 2012 and 2013, when the platform was known as Twitter. The posts were first reported by KGW-TV in Portland.
Bell apologized in a social media post Friday.
“I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter. These tweets, while wrong, were written by me 14 years ago while I was only 15 years old and have no reflection of who I am today,” he said. “I do not take lightly any harm it causes now. I regret this being my first impression to many of you online, but I can take solace in knowing that the people who truly know me understand that this is not the kind of person I am. Again, I’d like to apologize to anyone who was hurt by my words and will continue to always treat people with kindness and respect.”
The Blazers said in a statement: “We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City. We believe strongly 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.”
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Trail Blazers fire new TV announcer for inappropriate social media posts he made as a teenager - AP News
Trail Blazers fire new TV announcer for inappropriate social media posts he made as a teenager AP News
9 hours agoTrail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts
The team says they have ‘zero tolerance’ for such comments
14 hours ago · Field Level MediaTrail Blazers quickly fire new announcer over social media posts from 2012-13
The 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.
18 hours ago