Bell, who over from the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury to replace veteran Kevin Calabro as the youngest primary broadcaster in the NBA, was out of a job before he even put on a headset.The firing came after local station KGW unearthed tweets from Bell's account written between 2012 and 2014.In a December 2012 post, a 15-year-old Bell wrote, "I'm not racist at all..
But not gonna lie..Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest."An overhead close-up view of the NBA Cup logo painted on the court during a game between the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Nov.
29, 2024.(Getty Images)CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPIn July 2013, he added, "no blacks either.
#racist." He also appeared to make disparaging remarks about women in some posts.The Trail Blazers didn’t hesitate as they essentially hired Bell, announced him and fired him hours later.Panicking in real time, Blazers executives skipped administrative leave and terminated Bell that evening with an official statement:"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 CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE.DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!"The play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, on the broadcast and in character, and we hold that standard without exception.
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."Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks dribbles on the Portland Trail Blazers center court logo during the third quarter against th...