The victim is broadcaster Braiden Bell, who was the Portland Trail Blazers play-by-play announcer for less than 12 hours before the team fired him Thursday for tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013… when he was 15 years old.
asserted
he → play → 2012
The coward is the Blazers, who were informed of said tweets and ousted Bell immediately, presumably out of fear of the ever-ravenous outrage mob.
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who → inform → mob
And then there's the villain: KGW in Portland, the TV station that dug up those tweets and used them to try and ruin a man's life.
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that → be → life
Let's start with the ugly part — the tweets themselves.
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's → let → part
They are certainly nothing to condone, and are the kind of posts that should have given any of Bell's teenage friends pause at the time.
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that → condone → time
The first was from November 2012, when Bell wrote, "Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet w----s #BigUps."
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Bell → write → girls
The next was less than a month later, when Bell tweeted, "I'm not racist at all...But not gonna lie...
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I → tweet → ?
Asian people piss me off!
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people → piss → me
The third was from February 2013, when Bell tweeted, "We got a sl-t alert on aisle 10."
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We → tweet → aisle
And the final tweet KGW reported came less than two weeks later, when Bell typed "Girls these nights...Smh #ThirstyForTheD."
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Bell → report → ThirstyForTheD.
And if Bell was shamed by peers for his words at the time, it would have been justified.
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it → sham → time
But I think most of us who saw this story were thankful that our stupidest or most offensive comments as adolescents weren't broadcast to the world.
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comments → think → world
As Jason Whitlock said on X: "Virtually everything that came out of my mouth at 15 was a fireable offense.
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that → say → 15
There is a reason we do not let 15-year-olds drive independently.
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olds → be → ?
Just as there's a reason they have to wait three years before voting.
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they → be → years
Their minds aren't fully developed.
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minds → develop → ?
To hold adults forever responsible for their words — not actions — as teenagers is an exercise in cruelty.
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adults → hold → cruelty
Exactly what public good does unearthing these tweets and reporting them to the Blazers accomplish?
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unearthing → unearth → Blazers
How does dragging this man's name just after he landed his dream job serve the greater Portland community?
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he → drag → community
America's confidence in the media is hovering at an all-time low.
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confidence → hover → low
Stories like this only amplify that distrust...and it appears the KGW team knows this.
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team → amplify → this
Before Friday, Devon Haskins — the lead reporter on this story — had his email address displayed on his X account.
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address → have → account
It has since been scrubbed and his DMs are closed.
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DMs → scrub → ?
KGW news director John Tierney, whose byline was included on the report, also removed his email address after this story blew up.
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story → include → address
A third reporter, Alma McCarty, closed off her X inbox, too, while Jared Cowley, the final byline on the story, has no public contact info, either.
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Cowley → close → info
These are not the actions of media members standing firm on a story they believe in amid public backlash.
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they → stand → backlash
These are the actions of cowards who know they erred and are running for cover.
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they → know → cover
But not as embarrassing as the Blazers firing Bell the same day they hired him.
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they → fire → him
I've seen some critics of the team say their PR leaders fell short by not doing their due diligence on Bell.
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leaders → see → Bell
But according to KGW's reporting, Bell had over 30,000 tweets, and not one since February 2013 could be construed as offensive.
uncertain
one → accord → February
Is it really a PR failure to not sift through 14 years of social media posts?
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it → sift → posts
It's not like Bell came out of nowhere.
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Bell → come → ?
He was already calling games for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and G League's Valley Suns, and there didn't seem to be any indications he held racist or misogynistic views.
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he → call → views
Tweeted by former Arizona Republic sports columnist Paola Boivin: "Braiden's tweets at 15 do not reflect the person I know.
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I → tweet → person
I'm a big believer in not letting a poor decision or short timespan define a person's body of life work.
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decision → let → work
I used to be more righteous.
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I → use → ?
As I matured, I learned that decisions in youth are often driven by bravado or surroundings."
If only the Blazers — who just traded for Ja Morant, a player who was suspended 25 games for flashing a gun on an Instagram Live broadcast — were as empathetic.
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who → mature → Live
Remember when comedian Shane Gillis was fired from "Saturday Night Live" after it was discovered he used the Asian slur "c---k" on a podcast?
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he → remember → podcast
He's now selling out stadiums and has hosted SNL twice.
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He → sell → SNL
Kevin Hart, meanwhile, was fired as the 2018 Oscars host for a an unearthed homophobic comment.
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Hart → fire → comment
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
