New Trail Blazers Announcer Fired Hours After Hiring as Misogynistic and Racist Tweets Resurface
New Trail Blazers Announcer Fired Hours After Hiring as Misogynistic and Racist Tweets Resurface
Anna Lazarus CaplanFri, October 2, 2026 at 5:17 PM UTC
0
Credit: Braiden Bell/Youtube -
An NBA play-by-play announcer has been fired after his racist and misogynistic tweets surfaced
Braiden Bell, 29, allegedly posted the inappropriate messages when he was a teenager
The team had announced his hiring hours before it confirmed his firing
A play-by-play announcer who was set to make his debut on Portland Trail Blazers broadcasts this season has been fired by the team after misogynistic and racist online posts allegedly written when he was a teenager surfaced.
Braiden Bell, 29, was dismissed on Thursday, Oct. 1 after a report from Seattle station KGW-TV aired. His hiring had been announced about eight hours prior, according to ESPN.
In Twitter posts dated between 2012 and 2013, Bell shared his perspective about minorities and women.
“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, according to the news station.
Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE’s free sports newsletter — sign up now!
“Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet wh—,” Bell wrote on Nov. 30, 2012, per the station.
Advertisement
A general view of the Portland Trail Blazers half court logo in 2026.Credit: Soobum Im/Getty
The Trail Blazers confirmed with the station and later in a statement that Bell had been fired for being “in violation of team and league policies.”
“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 team said. “We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City,’’ the team said in a statement. “We believe strongly that everyone who is 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.”
Bell previously called games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns, per ESPN.
He was set to replace longtime Trail Blazers announcer Kevin Calabro, who left in July after new ownership offered him what he called a “subprime” contract, per KGW-TV.
The development comes nearly three months after another team in the league parted ways with its play-by-play man.
In July, the San Antonio Spurs fired announcer Jacob Tobey, 29, after he was involved in a viral social media scandal following an alleged affair with the sister of a Spurs player.
on People
Source: “AOL Sports”
