The Portland Trail Blazers fired play-by-play announcer Braiden Bell over social media posts he wrote as a teenager just hours after announcing he’d been hired.
The posts, uncovered by local Portland outlet KGW, included comments about Asians and women. All of the posts appear to be from 2012 an 2o13, when Bell was 15 years old.
“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,” the team said in a social media statement. “Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster.”
Bell, now 29 years old, did not write any of the offending posts as an adult.
“I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest,” Braiden wrote in one tweet from 2012.
“Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet wh**es,” Bell also wrote at the time.
Bell was hired to do the play-by-play broadcasts after working for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns.
“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 statement continued. “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.”
Kevin Calabro’s contract, who was the play-by-play broadcaster for the Trail Blazers since 2016, expired over the summer. Bell was originally hired to broadcast alongside analyst Lamar Hurd.
The Trail Blazers are now forced to find a new play-by-play announcer; the preseason begins in five days with the first season game against the Phoenix Suns set for less than three weeks from now.