Trail Blazers Fire Announcer Over Insensitive Teenage Tweets

The Portland Trail Blazers swiftly terminated the employment of play-by-play announcer Braiden Bell shortly after confirming his appointment, following the unearthing of insensitive tweets from 2012 and 2013 when Bell was a teenager. Devont Haskins, a reporter for Portland NBC affiliate KGW, stumbled upon the tweets while investigating the situation.

In one tweet, Bell expressed, “I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest,” while another stated, “Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet whores.” The Blazers promptly announced their decision after notifying the organization of their concerns. In response, the team affirmed its zero tolerance policy towards racist, sexist, or harmful comments on social media.

They emphasized that Bell's recently posted tweets violated team policies and their own values and expectations. Consequently, they clarified that they would not proceed with hiring Bell for the role. The 29-year-old announcer was set to join the Blazers’ Rip City network after previously calling games for the Valley Suns in the G League and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.

Bell’s agency has not yet commented on the matter. The 29-year-old announcer was hired on Oct. 21, 2023, to replace Kevin Calabro, who had been the team’s play-by-play broadcaster for the past decade. Calabro recently joined a new team of announcers for the Timberwolves, which also includes Michael Grady and Jon “Boog” Sciambi. The Blazers acknowledged their failure to live up to the high standards they expect, extending sincere apologies to their fans and the Rip City community.

They expressed their commitment to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of their organization, vowing to improve moving forward.