Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
The Portland Trail Blazers logo as seen on the pants of their uniform.
On Thursday, the Portland Trail Blazers announced the hiring of Braiden Bell as the team’s lead play-by-play announcer. Just hours later, however, they were back on the search for an announcer, and Bell was out of work.
Bell, 29, was fired after the team uncovered a series of insensitive social media posts he made while in high school. Bell would have been around 15 years old at the time of the posts.
Now, it appears that fans are torn over whether the firing was necessary, as well as whether the Blazers should have known about the posts before his hiring.
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 2, 2026
Portland Trail Blazers Address Firing Of Play-By-Play Announcer Braiden Bell
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the team said in a social media statement announcing Bell’s dismissal. “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.”
A reporter for local news station KGW in Portland discovered the posts. Among them were posts saying that Bell was “not racist” but “Asian people piss me off,” as well as a number of misogynistic posts, including him shouting out “big girls” and “closet wh-res.” The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013.
Not everyone was a fan of Bell’s dismissal.
“What a horrible look for this organization,” one fan posted on X. “If this was important to them (it clearly was), this should’ve been caught in the vetting process before he was ever hired. Instead, they can him 8 hours after hiring him because of public backlash.
“Hey kids, just remember, when you get your dream job, some people with no lives will scour your feeds and dig up tweets from 14 yrs ago,” another fan wrote. “The things you said in Grade 10 as a 15-year-old can get you fired from that job.”
What do you think? Did Bell’s comments deserve to see him fired? Or was this harsh from the Blazers? Let us know in the comments below.