The Portland Trail Blazers announced Braiden Bell as their new play-by-play broadcaster on Oct. 1, 2026, then said hours later they would not move forward with him after old social-media posts came to light. The team said the posts violated its policies and values; Bell later apologized and said he wrote them as a teenager.
Why did the Trail Blazers fire Braiden Bell?
The team reversed its hiring decision after KGW-TV reporter Devon Haskins surfaced posts from Bell’s Twitter account. OPB and the Associated Press reported that the posts dated to 2012 and 2013. The reports described them as racist and misogynist; the posts were written when Bell was a teenager. OPB and the Associated Press report via KSL.com covered the decision.
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The Trail Blazers said the posts violated team and league policies as well as the organization’s values and expectations. The available reports reproduce the team’s statement but do not provide the underlying policy text or an independent league finding. The decision was the team’s employment action: it said it “will not be moving forward” with Bell.
What did the Trail Blazers say?
In a statement reproduced by OPB, the team said: “The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments. 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.”
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The organization also acknowledged a failure in its hiring process, saying it “did not meet our own bar” and apologizing to fans and Rip City. It said the play-by-play position carries expectations for both broadcast performance and character, and that it would seek a replacement who reflects those values. OPB published the full statement.
How did Braiden Bell respond?
Bell apologized publicly the following afternoon. In the statement reported by OPB, he said he was “deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter” and that he had written the posts 14 years earlier, when he was 15. He said the posts did not reflect who he is today, acknowledged the harm they caused, and apologized to those hurt by his words. That characterization of his present-day beliefs is Bell’s own account.
Who is Braiden Bell?
Bell was 29 when the Trail Blazers announced and then withdrew his appointment. Before Portland, he had called games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns. He was hired to replace longtime Portland broadcaster Kevin Calabro, according to the Associated Press report carried by KSL.com.
What is known—and not established—about the reaction?
Coverage included both supportive and critical reactions online. Examples collected by Hindustan Times are selected social-media posts, not a poll, so they cannot show which view was more widely held. Hindustan Times reported examples of the reaction.
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