Sports broadcaster Braiden Bell was introduced as the new TV play-by-play announcer for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, but before the clock struck midnight he was fired by the team.
The 29-year-old Bell was abruptly let go by the Blazers after KGW reporter Devon Haskins located tweets on Bell’s Twitter (X) account that included racist and misogynistic language.
The tweets in question were from 2012 and 2013, when Bell would have been 15 or 16 years old.
Among the tweets published by KGW included derogatory sentiments toward Asian people.
“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.
Several other tweets on Bell’s account featured insensitive comments about women.
“Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet wh-res,” Bell wrote on Nov. 30, 2012.
“We got a sl-t alert on aisle 10,” he wrote on Feb. 13, 2013.
“Girls these nights… Smh. #ThirstyForTheD,” he wrote on Feb. 24, 2013.
After being informed of his past posts by the media outlet, the Trail Blazers decided to fire Bell; he was set to replace Kevin Calabro following his 10 years as Portland’s play-by-play voice.
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the team said in a statement. “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 play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, on the broadcast and in character, and we hold that standard without exception. 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.”
Bell did not post any offensive tweets after he became a legal adult, according to the KGW report, tweeting almost primarily about sports from 2015 to the present. By Friday afternoon, the announcer had changed his public Twitter account to private so that his tweets cannot be viewed unless he accepts your follow request.
Prior to accepting the job with the Blazers, Bell had called games for Cal Baptist and his alma mater Arizona State on the ESPN+ platform. He also spent time as the play-by-play man for the Phoenix Suns G League team and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
The broadcaster released an apology statement on his Twitter account Friday evening.
“I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter,” Bell wrote. “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.
“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, l’d like to apologize to anyone who was hurt by my words and will continue to always treat people with kindness and respect.”
Bell learned the hard way that your internet footprint never stops following you.
