The Portland Trail Blazers fired their new play-by-play broadcaster hours after announcing his hiring, citing troubling social media posts he made at age 15. The organization has a zero-tolerance policy toward this behavior, but aren’t we getting a little silly here? Who hasn’t said dumb stuff as a kid? Braiden Bell was set to take the new gig but lost it the same day over an offense that may have been an overreaction. The posts were described as racist and misogynistic. They’re not good, but they're not from a Klan rally either. They’re dumb posts, but either way, he’s gone (via KGW8):
The Blazers have released a statement saying that they have fired freshly hired TV pxp announcer Braiden Bell after racist and misogynistic tweets from his past have resurfaced, including a tweet that said:
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) October 2, 2026
"I'm not racist at all, but I'm not going to lie, Asian people piss me… pic.twitter.com/WjLZ1u2TRz
The Portland Trail Blazers fired Braiden Bell on Thursday night, hours after he was named the team's new television play-by-play broadcaster, after misogynistic and racist comments surfaced that Bell made on Twitter when he was a teenager.
The tweets were from 2012 and 2013 and were first spotted by KGW reporter Devon Haskins. KGW was in the process of reporting a story on the tweets Thursday afternoon and reached out to the Blazers for comment. The team replied several hours later saying they had fired Bell.
The posts in question had not been deleted as of Thursday evening and were from the Twitter account that Bell, a prolific tweeter of more than a decade, still actively uses for sports commentary.
"I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest," Bell wrote in a Dec. 9, 2012 tweet.
[…]
"The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments. 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," the Trail Blazers told KGW in a statement.
"The play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, on the broadcast and in character, and we hold that standard without exception," they continued. "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."
KGW's review did not locate any offensive tweets from Bell after he became an adult. In fact, by the latter half of 2015, Bell's public tweets were almost entirely about sports.
This is an overreaction. I’m sorry. Sure, make him post and say an apology on-air, but termination over stuff a teenager says. No one would have jobs with this standard.
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