The Portland Trail Blazers named a new play-by-play broadcaster on Thursday, Oct. 1, and then announced his firing hours later after a local Portland news station uncovered his old social media posts.
Braiden Bell was fired after KGW-TV asked the NBA team about multiple racist and misogynistic X posts he allegedly made in 2012 and 2013, when Bell was a teenager.
Shortly after, the Trail Blazers released a statement on X saying, “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.”
Bell apologized in a social media post Friday. The old posts are no longer available online, and Bell’s account is now private.
Bell previously was a play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team.