Portland Trail Blazers terminate newly hired play-by-play announcer after old tweets surface
The Trail Blazers cancelled the contract of newly announced broadcaster Braiden Bell within hours of his hiring after past racist and sexist tweets were uncovered.
Braiden Bell's tenure as the Portland Trail Blazers' television play-by-play announcer lasted roughly eight hours before the team rescinded his contract. The decision followed the discovery of several years-old tweets authored by Bell as a teenager that expressed racist and misogynistic sentiments. Local station KGW reported the tweets to the franchise, prompting the organization to act.
"The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist or harmful comments," the team said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. "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 added that the role carries a legacy of excellence both on-air and in character, and the team apologized to fans for not meeting its own standards. It did not specify who will replace Bell, noting that runner-up candidate Kyle Draper could be considered or that a new search may begin.