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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