Blazers part ways with new TV Play-by-Play broadcaster hours after announcing hire

Braiden Bell's time behind the mic for the Portland Trail Blazers ended before it ever had a chance to truly begin. On Thursday afternoon the team announced the hire of Bell. A young up and comer tasked with replacing the legendary Kevin Calabro.

The announcement was met with excitement. Bell was seen engaging with fans on social media and was looking forward to his start in PDX. Then, it all came crashing down.

Hours after the hire was announced, the plug was pulled.

Local news station KGW unearthed social media posts that Bell posted when he was a teenager, posts which the team would later call "racists, sexist and harmful."

The Blazers announced the hire at noon. At 8:11pm, just eight-hours later, they had to post that they were no longer moving forward with the hire.

The team released the following statement via social media:

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 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.

The Trail Blazers are now left scrambling to find a replacement for their replacement, with their first preseason game in less than a week (Wed. Oct. 7), and their regular season opener on Oct.21 fast approaching.

We will update you as any new details develop.