The Portland Trail Blazers moved quickly to reverse course on their new play-by-play hire after racist tweets from Braiden Bell resurfaced online.
Bell, who had been announced less than 24 hours earlier and was poised to become the youngest play-by-play announcer at 29, is no longer being brought in by the team. The decision came after social media posts from 2012 and 2013 were uncovered following the hiring announcement.
In a statement, the Blazers said:
"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," the statement read.
"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 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."
Among the tweets that surfaced was one from Dec. 9, 2012, in which Bell wrote, "I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie..
Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest."
That post has since been deleted.
Another tweet, dated Nov. 30, 2012, read, "Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet w--res."
The other posts cited in the report were from 2013. On Feb.
13, Bell tweeted, "We got a sl-t alert on aisle 10," and on Feb. 24 he wrote, "Girls these nights... Smh.
#ThirstyForTheD."
A KGW 8 reporter found the tweets and contacted the Blazers for comment after they resurfaced.
With Bell out of the picture, Portland is back in the market for a replacement for Kevin Calabro, who declined to return after being offered a pay cut he described as a "subprime" contract. Calabro later took a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier in the offseason as their play-by-play broadcaster.
The Blazers open preseason play on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors. Tip-off is set for 7 pm PT at the Moda Center in Portland.
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