Fired for Teen Tweets, Broadcaster Seeks Blazers Reinstatement
Braiden Bell’s attorney is seeking reinstatement for the broadcaster after the Trail Blazers fired him over tweets he sent as a teenager, according to frontofficesports.com.
The Blazers announced Bell’s hiring last week and fired him the same day after a reporter for local NBC affiliate KGW discovered the tweets, per frontofficesports.com. In a press release issued Monday night, Bell’s lawyer Arnie Herz made the case for a second chance.
“Braiden is not asking anyone to excuse what he wrote,” Herz wrote. “He has owned it, without excuses.”
The press release asks whether “a boy’s words from fourteen years ago should outweigh everything the man has done since.” Whether the Trail Blazers will consider reinstatement is not confirmed in the source.
WHAT HAPPENED
Bell, 29, was hired after calling games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns, according to frontofficesports.com. Hours after the hiring announcement, a KGW reporter discovered tweets Bell sent in 2012 and 2013.
One tweet read: “Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and those closet whores.” Another said: “I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest.”
The Blazers responded the same day with a statement posted on X/Twitter announcing his firing.
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the team said. “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 NUMBERS AND CONTEXT
The timeline is stark: Bell was hired and fired on the same day, with his apology following on Oct. 2, the day after. The tweets themselves date back 14 years, to when Bell was 15, according to his apology on X/Twitter. Bell, now 29, had been calling games for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns before the Blazers announced his hiring.
Herz’s press release leaned into that gap between the boy who wrote the posts and the man who lost the job, calling the Blazers an organization “built on second chances,” per frontofficesports.com. The same release noted Bell holds “no ill will” toward the KGW reporter who uncovered the tweets.
The precedent Herz brings to the table is direct. He previously represented Jacob Tobey, the Spurs announcer who was fired after his girlfriend posted on social media accusing him of cheating, according to frontofficesports.com. Tobey was later reinstated to the job.
That case offers a template: a broadcaster removed in a public storm, then brought back. Whether the Blazers follow that path is unconfirmed, but the parallel is now part of the public argument.
THE REACTION
Herz’s press release drew a clear line between the teenager’s posts and the broadcaster’s adult life. “Accountability means owning what you did and showing who you have become. Braiden has done both,” the release said, per frontofficesports.com.
Bell’s own apology, issued Oct. 2 — the day after he was hired and fired — struck the same note. “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,” Bell wrote on X/Twitter.
The Trail Blazers offered no such nuance. “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,” the team said in a statement posted on X announcing his firing.
The team’s position was blunt: zero tolerance, no exceptions. Herz’s response reframed that standard as one no adult could survive if applied to their teenage self.
The press release also said Bell held “no ill will” toward the KGW reporter who uncovered the tweets, according to frontofficesports.com. That detail matters — it separates Bell’s response from the usual cycle of blame and resentment.
What remains unresolved is whether the Blazers will reconsider. The team has offered no indication of a path back, and Herz’s argument now rests on whether an organization that says it values second chances will extend one to a man whose worst words predate his career.
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Herz’s press release argues that “zero tolerance sounds strong, but applied to childhood it becomes a standard no one can meet and no one actually believes,” according to frontofficesports.com. That framing turns the Blazers’ policy into a philosophical question rather than a simple HR violation.
Here is where the trail goes quiet. The source does not specify any next steps, deadlines, or decisions from the Trail Blazers regarding Bell’s reinstatement request. No hearing date, no internal review timeline, no public statement beyond the firing announcement.
Herz’s prior representation of Jacob Tobey may offer a roadmap. Tobey, the Spurs announcer fired after his girlfriend’s social media posts, was later reinstated — but the source does not confirm any similar outcome for Bell. Precedent exists, but it is not a promise.
The Blazers have said nothing since their zero-tolerance statement. Bell has apologized, owned the tweets, and expressed no ill will toward the reporter. The ball, for now, sits entirely in Portland’s court.
Any timeline or decision by the Trail Blazers on reinstatement is not in the source. What is known is that Herz has framed this as a test of whether a teenager’s words can outweigh a man’s adult record — and that the organization’s next move, whatever it is, has not yet been made public.
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