You can think Braiden Bell’s old tweets were stupid and offensive AND still think this is kinda crazy.
The Trail Blazers hired Bell as their new play-by-play announcer, then fired him HOURS later when tweets from 2012 and 2013 surfaced. Bell is 29 now. He was about 15 when he posted them, and KGW reportedly didn’t find offensive posts from him after he became an adult.
So what exactly is the expiration date on being a dumbass teenager?.. Because if something you posted at FIFTEEN can cost you a job 14 years later, Portland better start doing some serious archaeology on everybody in that building.
Are we going through the players next? Coaches? Executives? If somebody on the roster tweeted something awful sophomore year of high school, are the Blazers cutting him too?
And maybe the funniest part is Portland announced Bell, called him an important voice for their future, then a reporter apparently found all this sitting on the SAME account within hours. Forget Bell for a second.. what the hell was the Blazers’ background check? Did they just make sure his name matched the résumé and call it a day?
People should absolutely be accountable for what they say. But if there’s no room between “said something awful at 15” and “this represents who you are forever,” we’re gonna need a lot more unemployment paperwork.
