The Aporia · Trail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts

Trail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts

Read the original at The Independent ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Media, F. L. (2026, October 2). Trail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/portland-trail-blazers-braiden-bell-b3060591.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

The Portland Trail Blazers fired Braiden Bell just hours after hiring him as the new play-by-play announcer due to offensive social media posts from a decade ago. Bell’s tweets, discovered by KGW reporter, included derogatory language targeting women and an anti-Asian slur. The team cited zero tolerance for racist and sexist comments in their statement, emphasizing violation of league policies and values.

Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The Portland Trail Blazers fired their newly hired television play-by-play broadcaster Braiden Bell hours after announcing his hiring due to racist and misogynistic posts from his teenage years. The posts, made on X (formerly Twitter) between 2012 and 2013 when Bell was around 15 years old, included derogatory comments about "Asian people" and used terms like "slut" in reference to women. KGW in Portland uncovered these posts before the Blazers officially terminated Bell's employment. The team stated they have a zero-tolerance policy for such comments, violating both league policies and their own values. Bell later apologized on X, saying his past tweets do not reflect who he is today. His legal team has since demanded his reinstatement, arguing that a teenager’s words from fourteen years ago should not dictate the rest of his professional life.

Written for “Fired Announcer Teen Tweets” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 7 other(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

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Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

59/100

The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-02 · how these are computed

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Publisher

The Independent · 3531 article(s) · 8 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Field Level Media

2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."

2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Trail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts

Also by Field Level Media

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Arizona State Blazers Rip City The Portland Trail Blazers the Trail Blazers

Subjects

Bell PERSON · 3× Arizona State ORG · 2× Blazers ORG · 2× Rip City GPE · 2× The Portland Trail Blazers ORG · 2× the Trail Blazers ORG · 2× Asian NORP · 1× Braiden Bell PERSON · 1× Independent ORG · 1× Kevin Calabro PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The messages, published on Twitter (now X) in late 2012 and early 2013, contained derogatory language targeting women as well as an insult directed at Asian people, despite Bell referring to himself as "not racist" in the same post.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-02

🔮 Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."

2026-10-02 · The Independent

Trail Blazers fire new announcer just hours after hiring over decade-old social media posts · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Portland Trail Blazers have dismissed play-by-play announcer Braiden Bell just hours after announcing his appointment to the role. asserted

Blazers → dismiss → role

He was initially named Thursday as the replacement for long-serving caller Kevin Calabro, but was swiftly removed after social media posts made during his teenage years came to light. asserted

posts → name → light

Bell → publish → post

"The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a statement posted to social media later Thursday. asserted

team → have → media

"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. asserted

posts → make → policies

Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster." asserted

we → move → broadcaster

The franchise was alerted to the comments by a reporter from Portland television station KGW, who uncovered the posts and contacted the team for comment. asserted

who → alert → comment

According to Bell's LinkedIn profile, he studied journalism at Arizona State from 2015 to 2019 before becoming the voice of Cal Baptist sports in autumn 2019. He left that position in mid-2024 to commentate on games for Arizona State, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and the Valley Suns of the G League, having also made his debut covering Big 12 football for FS1 last autumn. uncertain

He → accord → FS1

Bell has not commented publicly since his dismissal, though he had earlier shared his excitement about taking up the position. asserted

he → comment → position

"Rip City — Wow, it's going to be an awesome ride!" he posted. asserted

he → go → ?

"It's hard to describe the honor I'm feeling. asserted

I → describe → honor

I can't wait to settle into this community & fanbase. asserted

I → wait → community

"My goal is to make you proud every game and honor the incredible history & tradition of Blazers play-by-play. asserted

you → make → play

His X account has since been made private. asserted

account → make → ?

The team's official statement also contained an apology to their supporters. "We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. asserted

Blazers → contain → City

"We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. asserted

broadcaster → believe → values

We will do better." asserted

We → do → ?

The Trail Blazers begin their new campaign at home against the Phoenix Suns October 21. asserted

Blazers → begin → Suns