Braiden Bell is seeking a second chance with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Through his legal counsel, Bell has asked the Trail Blazers to reconsider its decision to fire him. The team made that move last Thursday, approximately eight hours after he was hired to replace Kevin Calabro as Portland’s play-by-play announcer.
The team took action after social media posts Bell made as a teenager were uncovered. The posts, on Twitter (now X), called women derogatory names and included an insult to Asians, although Bell referred to himself as “not racist” in the same post.
“Braiden is not asking anyone to excuse what he wrote,” Bell’s lawyer Arnie Herz wrote in a press release issued Monday night. “He has owned it, without excuses. What he is asking is whether a boy’s words from 14 years ago should outweigh everything the man has done since. If that is the standard, there is hardly a person in any organization in America who could meet it. Accountability means owning what you did and showing who you have become. Braiden has done both.”
The Trail Blazers posted the following statement after dismissing Bell last week: “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.”
Bell, 29, issued an apology the next day.
“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,” Bell wrote on X.
The Trail Blazers appear to be willing to stand by their initial decision in a statement to Front Office Sports.
“We stand by our statement issued last week and have no further comment at this time,” the team said. “We wish Mr. Bell the best.”
–Field Level Media
