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An attorney for Braiden Bell is seeking reinstatement for the broadcaster after he was fired by the Trail Blazers for tweets that he sent as a teenager.
Last week, the Blazers announced the hiring of Bell and then fired him the same day after a reporter for local NBC affiliate KGW discovered tweets that were insensitive to women and Asians.
“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 fourteen 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.”
Herz also represented Jacob Tobey, the Spurs announcer who was fired after his girlfriend posted on social media accusing him of cheating on her with the sister of a player on the team. Tobey was later reinstated to the job.
Bell, 29, was hired after calling games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and G League’s Valley Suns. Hours later, a KGW reporter found insensitive tweets Bell sent in 2012 and 2013. One said, “Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet whores.” In another, Bell wrote, “I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest.”
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the team said in a statement posted on X/Twitter announcing his firing. “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 issued an apology on Oct. 2, the day after he was hired and fired. “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/Twitter.
The press release called the Blazers an organization “built on second chances” and said that Bell held “no ill will” toward the reporter who uncovered his tweets.
“Zero tolerance sounds strong, but applied to childhood it becomes a standard no one can meet and no one actually believes in,” Herz said. “The NBA has led on social issues before. It can lead here, from moral absolutism toward a culture of accountability, compassion and understanding.”
However, the Blazers indicated in a statement to Front Office Sports that they do not plan to reverse their decision.
“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.”
