Lately, it’s starting to seem like 2012-2013 again.
From KGW8 in Portland, Oregon:
Trail Blazers fire new broadcaster after misogynistic, racist comments surface
A KGW reporter uncovered the tweets from 2012 and 2013, when Braiden Bell was around 15 years old.
Author: Devon Haskins, Jared Cowley (KGW), John Tierney, Alma McCarty (KGW), KGW Staff
Published: 8:01 PM PDT October 1, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers fired Braiden Bell on Thursday night, hours after he was named the team’s new television play-by-play broadcaster, after misogynistic and racist comments surfaced that Bell made on Twitter when he was a teenager.
The tweets were from 2012 and 2013 and were first spotted by KGW reporter Devon Haskins. KGW was in the process of reporting a story on the tweets Thursday afternoon and reached out to the Blazers for comment. The team replied several hours later saying they had fired Bell.
The posts in question had not been deleted as of Thursday evening and were from the Twitter account that Bell, a prolific tweeter of more than a decade, still actively uses for sports commentary.
“I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest,” Bell wrote in a Dec. 9, 2012 tweet.
“Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet w--res,” Bell wrote on Nov. 30, 2012.
“We got a sl-t alert on aisle 10,” he wrote on Feb. 13, 2013.
“Girls these nights... Smh. #ThirstyForTheD,” he wrote on Feb. 24, 2013.
KGW viewed other tweets from Bell containing language that appeared misogynistic or racist from this time period, but in some cases the context could not be verified due other users’ accounts or linked content being inactive.
“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,” they continued. “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.”
KGW’s review did not locate any offensive tweets from Bell after he became an adult. In fact, by the latter half of 2015, Bell’s public tweets were almost entirely about sports.
On Friday, Bell issued a statement of apology to his Twitter account, saying in part, “I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter. 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.”
Elections matter in cultural shifts, both in the run-up and the aftermath.
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