{
  "id": 11361048,
  "title": "Ex-Mercury voice fired from NBA job for racist, misogynistic posts",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/ex-mercury-voice-fired-from-nba-job-for-racist-misogynistic-posts",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-02T04:56:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ex-mercury-voice-fired-nba-045618050.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Phoenix Mercury and Valley Suns broadcaster Braiden Bell has been dismissed from his position as the Portland Trail Blazers' television play-by-play commentator. This decision followed the surfacing of racist and misogynistic social media posts from Bell's teenage years. The posts, shared on X in 2012 and 2013, came to light when KGW reporter Devon Haskins discovered them while working on a separate story. The Trail Blazers promptly informed KGW of their decision to terminate Bell's employment. Bell's offensive remarks included comments such as \"Girls these nights… Smh. #ThirstyForTheD\" and \"I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest.\" The Trail Blazers expressed their disappointment in Bell's actions and his subsequent termination from the NBA broadcaster role.",
  "summary": "Ex-Phoenix Mercury play-by-play broadcaster has been fired by the Portland Trail Blazers hours after he was announced as new play-by-play broadcaster.",
  "key_points": [
    "Former broadcaster Braiden Bell dismissed from Portland Trail Blazers job",
    "Racist and misogynistic social media posts from Bell's teenage years surfaced",
    "Trail Blazers terminated Bell's employment following discovery of offensive remarks"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}