The Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on September 28, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The Portland Trail Blazers fired their new play-by-play broadcast announcer on Thursday, just hours after announcing they had hired him.
The Blazers introduced announcer Braiden Bell just after noon, saying in a press release that he was “a strong fit” and “an important voice for the next chapter of Trail Blazers basketball.”
In reporting the story, KGW-TV reporter Devon Haskins discovered racist and misogynistic messages on Bell’s Twitter account dating back to 2012 and 2013, when Bell was a teenager.
Haskins contacted the team for comment on the tweets, and the Blazers responded saying they had fired Bell.
In a statement shortly after 8 p.m., the team said it would “not be moving forward with this broadcaster.”
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist or prejudiced comments. The social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are a flagrant violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we will not move forward with this broadcaster.
“The play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, in terms of broadcast and character, and we maintain that standard without exception,” they continued. “We fell short of our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers and Rip City fans. We firmly believe that everyone who is part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will ensure our new broadcaster reflects those values. We will do better.”
The team did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment Friday morning.
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