NBA Announcer Fired Over Twitter Posts He Made as a Teenager 

PORTLAND, OR — The Portland Trail Blazers fired their new play-by-play broadcaster Thursday night after it was discovered he made offensive social media posts when he was 15 years old.

Braiden Bell, now 29 years old, made the posts back in 2012 and ‘13 when he was still in high school.

There is no evidence of any inappropriate posts since then.

However, a reporter named Devon Haskins from the TV station KGW in Portland discovered the posts and reported them, causing Bell to be fired the same day he was hired.

One of Bell’s tweets said, "I'm not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest.”

Another said, "Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet whores.”

He also wrote, "We got a slut alert on aisle 10.”

One reporter at the news station took to X to brag about their story that prompted his firing, though that post was largely met with criticism because the social media posts were more than a decade old and made by a teenager.

The Trail Blazers made the following statement:

"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," the Trail Blazers told KGW in a statement. 

"The play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, on the broadcast and in character, and we hold that standard without exception," the Trail Blazers continued in their statement. "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."