Craig Carton calls out cancel culture after Portland Trail Blazers cut ties with newly hired announcer

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.