Laura Loomer calls Bad Bunny's electric pole dance 'degeneracy,' gets roasted by X Community Notes

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA: Conservative activist Laura Loomer slammed Latin artist Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance, describing a segment in which he danced atop an electrical pole as "degeneracy."

She slammed the singer for not using his platform to raise awareness over electricity crisis in Puerto Rico, but that post appears to have backfired as Community Notes on X (formerly Twitter) ended up roasting her take.

Loomer gets checked by Community Notes

Sharing a clip of Bad Bunny's electric pole sequence, Loomer posted on X, "It’s kind of ironic how Bad Bunny was dancing on an electrical post at the Super Bowl halftime show. Puerto Rico isn’t exactly known for having reliable electricity. He could have highlighted the electrical grid crisis in PR and done some good with his platform, but he chose degeneracy!"

The remark resulted in multiple people pointing out that she was wrong. It eventually led to a Community Note on X.

"The point *WAS* to highlight Puerto Rico's problematic power grid," it read, linking to a report by the Scientific American on what the performance was about. 

"Dancing linemen who dangled from power poles during the Super Bowl halftime show by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny were a pointed reference to the island’s power grid, which has been hit hard by a series of hurricanes and, experts agree, is in dire need of modernization," the report states.

It's worth noting that Community Notes operate through a consensus-based system where X users with diverse perspectives must agree that a note is helpful before it is publicly displayed on a post.

Like the Community Note, comments, too, hit out at Looner. Several critics mocked her take.

"Spectacularly missing the point. That song is about the corrupt deal the Puerto Rican government made with the electricity provider... and yet the Puerto Rican people persevere," another added.

"You just proved his point, genius...that's what they were highlighting," someone else chimed in.

Bad Bunny's symbolic halftime performance

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, headlined a Super Bowl halftime show that also featured appearances by Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and other artists. The Puerto Rican superstar incorporated cultural and political references throughout his set. 

The pole-climbing sequence occurred during his performance of "El Apagón," a 2022 track whose title translates to "The Blackout" or "The Power Outage." Dancers dressed as utility workers appeared to struggle to repair poles amid flying sparks, while lights flickered across the stage and stadium.  

Bad Bunny has previously used his platform to address these issues, including a social media post during outages last year in which he asked, "¿Cuándo vamos a hacer algo?" ("When are we going to do something?").

The halftime show at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, also featured Puerto Rico's sugar cane fields that symbolized colonial legacies

Puerto Rico's electricity challenges

Puerto Rico has faced well-documented struggles with its power grid for years. Hurricane Maria in 2017 devastated the island's infrastructure, leading to one of the longest blackouts in its history. 

In the aftermath, the government privatized transmission and distribution operations before awarding a major contract to LUMA Energy (a consortium involving US and Canadian firms) in 2021. 

However, many residents and local officials argue that service has not improved as promised. Outages have remained frequent, with major island-wide blackouts occurring in the last couple of years. 

In December, the Puerto Rican government filed a lawsuit seeking to terminate LUMA's contract, citing failure to modernize the grid and rising rates. Puerto Ricans reportedly pay significantly more for electricity than the US mainland average, while reliability lags.