Trail Blazers Announcer Braiden Bell Apologizes After Racist, Sexist Posts Resurface, Leads to Firing

Braiden Bell, the recently hired play-by-play announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers, has issued an apology following the resurfacing of racist and misogynistic posts from his past. The team terminated his employment on Thursday, mere hours after announcing his hiring.

Bell addressed the controversy on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. "I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter," he wrote. "These tweets, while wrong, were written by me 14 years ago while I was only 15 years old and have no reflection of who I am today. I do not take lightly any harm it causes now."

He added, "I regret this being my first impression to many of you online, but I can take solace in knowing that the people who truly know me understand that this is not the kind of person I am. Again, I’d like to apologize to anyone who was hurt by my words and will continue to always treat people with kindness and respect."

The posts in question, which originated from Bell's X account around 2012 and 2013, contained derogatory comments about Asian people and used offensive terms to refer to women. By Friday evening, these specific posts were no longer visible on his account when accessed by The Post.

According to reports, a journalist from KGW in Portland discovered the posts and notified the Trail Blazers organization prior to Bell's dismissal. The team released a statement emphasizing their zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory language. "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," the Blazers stated. "Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."

The team acknowledged shortcomings in their vetting process, stating, "We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City. We believe strongly 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. We will do better."

Bell was initially set to replace longtime voice of the team, Kevin Calabro. Prior to his brief tenure with the Trail Blazers, Bell worked as a play-by-play announcer for Cal Baptist and Arizona State on ESPN+, and also called games for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and the Suns' G League team.