The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light.
"The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a social media statement Thursday announcing Bell's dismissal. "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."
Among the insensitive comments, as found by a reporter for KGW in Portland, were Bell saying he was "not racist" but "Asian people piss me off" and a number of misogynistic posts, including him shouting out "big girls" and "closet whores." The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old.
Bell issued an apology on his X account on Friday.
"I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter," he wrote in the post. "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. I regret this being my first impression to many of you online, but I can take solace in knowing that the people who truly know me understand that this is not the kind of person I am. Again, I'd like to apologize to anyone who was hurt by my words and will continue to always treat people with kindness and respect."
Bell, 29, had been hired to call games after broadcasting for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and G League's Valley Suns over the past two years.
He was set to replace longtime play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro, who had held the role since 2016 but left in July after what he told The Oregonian was a "subprime" contract offer.
"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe 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."
New Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon has made a number of cost-cutting moves that have come under scrutiny. Dundon also insisted over the summer that only public money should be used to pay for a $600 million makeover of the Trail Blazers' arena, the Moda Center.