The Portland Trail Blazers fired newly hired play-by-play broadcaster Braiden Bell on the same day they announced him for the job, after old posts on X surfaced containing racist and misogynistic language.
The posts in question date back to 2012 and 2013, when Bell was around 15 years old. They included disparaging comments about “Asian people” and used the words “slut” and “wh—s” to describe women.
KGW in Portland reported that one of its journalists found the posts and contacted the Blazers for comment before the team moved to cut ties with Bell.
The team released a statement explaining its decision. “The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the statement read. “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 statement continued: “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.”
As of late Thursday night, the posts in question were still visible on Bell’s X account.
Among the messages KGW flagged was one from Dec. 9, 2012: “I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest.”
Weeks earlier, Bell had written, “Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet w—s.” On Feb. 13, 2013, he posted, “We got a slut alert on aisle 10,” according to KGW’s reporting.
KGW said it did not find any offensive posts from Bell made as an adult.
Bell had been brought in to replace longtime Blazers broadcaster Kevin Calabro, who told The Oregonian he was stepping away from the role after being offered what he called a “subprime” contract.
Bell graduated from Arizona State in 2019 and went on to call games for Cal Baptist and ASU on ESPN+. He later worked as a play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Suns’ G League affiliate and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Bell had not publicly commented on his firing as of Thursday night.
