Trail Blazers fire new announcer hours after hiring him over social media posts he made as a teenager

The Portland Trail Blazers fired new play-by-play voice Braiden Bell just hours after hiring him on Thursday, the team announced. Bell was expected to replace longtime broadcaster Kevin Calabro in the role, but after hiring him, the Blazers discovered racist and misogynistic posts on his existing social media account. Bell is now 29 years old and the messages were made when Bell was a teenager in 2012 and 2013. The Blazers released the following statement:

“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, both in broadcast and character, and we maintain that standard without exception. We have not met our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to the fans of the Blazers and Rip City. We firmly believe that everyone who is part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will ensure that our new broadcaster reflects those values. We will do better.”

The tweets were initially found by news outlet KGW, which found no offensive tweets once Bell became an adult. As of 2015, his narrative focuses almost exclusively on sports. Bell’s account was private as of Friday evening.

Before accepting the Blazers job, Bell served as the play-by-play broadcaster for the G-League’s Phoenix Mercury and Valley Sun. The Blazers were already in the process of overhauling most of their television operations this season, with Calabro among several veteran broadcasters not retained by new owner Tom Dundon.

Portland will need to find a new play-by-play voice with less than three weeks remaining before the 2026-27 season begins. The Blazers open their season at home against the Phoenix Suns on October 21.