Batas Kebebasan Berekspresi dan Ujaran Kebencian dalam Humor Stand Up Comedy Mens Rea Karya Pandji Pragiwaksono: Analisis Wacana Kritis Norman Fairclough

Kebebasan berekspresi melalui humor menjadi sorotan setelah Stand Up Comedy Mens Rea karya Pandji Pragiwaksono memicu kontroversi nasional. Pertunjukan tersebut dipandang sebagai kritik sosial-politik, tetapi juga dianggap mengandung penghinaan, penistaan, dan ujaran kebencian. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) mendeskripsikan representasi kritik kekuasaan politik dan sosial dalam stand up comedy Mens Rea; (2) menganalisis batas antara kebebasan berekspresi dan ujaran kebencian berdasarkan teori Jeffrey W. Howard; serta (3) menganalisis implikasi wacana stand up comedy Mens Rea Karya Pandji Pragiwaksono terhadap Dinamika Demokrasi Indonesia. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan paradigma Analisis Wacana Kritis Norman Fairclough yang mencakup tiga dimensi analisis, yaitu dimensi teks, praktik diskursif, dan praktik sosial-kultural. Sumber data primer berupa transkrip pertunjukan Stand Up Comedy Mens Rea yang tayang di Netflix, sedangkan data sekunder diperoleh dari pemberitaan media massa, media digital, podcast, wawancara, forum diskusi daring, serta respons publik. Data dikumpulkan melalui teknik simak, catat, dan dokumentasi, kemudian dianalisis menggunakan model Miles, Huberman, dan Saldana melalui tahapan kondensasi data, penyajian data, serta penarikan dan verifikasi simpulan. Hasil penelitian pada fokus pertama menunjukkan bahwa pada dimensi teks, Pandji Pragiwaksono merepresentasikan kritik terhadap demokrasi, dinasti politik, nepotisme, penyalahgunaan kekuasaan, kebijakan publik, elit politik, dan budaya politik masyarakat melalui strategi linguistik berupa satire, ironi, metafora, hiperbola, pelabelan, oposisi biner, serta humor politik. Pada dimensi praktik diskursif, Mens Rea merupakan hasil transformasi berbagai isu publik yang telah berkembang di media massa, media sosial, dan ruang politik, kemudian direproduksi melalui platform global Netflix sehingga memperluas distribusi, konsumsi, dan perdebatan publik. Pada dimensi praktik sosial-kultural, humor politik berfungsi sebagai bentuk counter-hegemony yang mendorong partisipasi warga negara dalam mengawasi kekuasaan sekaligus membangun ruang diskusi demokratis. Berdasarkan fokus kedua penelitian ini menemukan bahwa 31 data tergolong free speech, 17 data offensive, dan 2 data gray area serta tidak ditemukan hate speech. Temuan penting (novelty) dalam penelitian ini berada pada temuan gray area yang menunjukan wilayah ambiguitas makna dalam humor Mens Rea. Adapun dua data yang mennjukan gray area meliputi “MR/P/N/24” dan “MR/P/N/43”, menunjukkan bahwa suatu ujaran dapat menimbulkan moral harm melalui stereotipisasi atau delegitimasi simbolik tanpa memenuhi unsur hate speech. Adapun pada fokus ketiga penelitian ini menemukan wacana Mens Rea memberikan implikasi terhadap hidupnya ruang diskusi publik, mempererat relasi hubungan demokrasi dan hukum, dan menguatkan peran humor sebagai sarana kritik dalam demokrasi.

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Freedom of expression through humor has come under scrutiny after Pandji Pragiwaksono’s stand-up comedy show Mens Rea sparked a national controversy. The performance was viewed as a form of socio-political criticism but was also deemed to contain insults, defamation, and hate speech. This study aims to: (1) describe the representation of criticism of political and social power in the stand-up comedy show Mens Rea; (2) analyze the boundary between freedom of expression and hate speech based on Jeffrey W. Howard’s theory; and (3) analyze the implications of the discourse in Pandji Pragiwaksono’s stand-up comedy show Mens Rea for the dynamics of Indonesian democracy. This study employs a qualitative method using Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis paradigm, which encompasses three dimensions of analysis: the textual dimension, discursive practices, and sociocultural practices. The primary data source consists of transcripts of the stand-up comedy show Mens Rea available on Netflix, while secondary data was obtained from mass media reports, digital media, podcasts, interviews, online discussion forums, and public responses. Data were collected through observation, note-taking, and documentation, then analyzed using the Miles, Huberman, and Saldana model through the stages of data condensation, data presentation, and the drawing and verification of conclusions. The results of the first focus of the study indicated that, in the textual dimension, Pandji Pragiwaksono critiques democracy, political dynasties, nepotism, abuse of power, public policy, the political elite, and the political culture of society through linguistic strategies such as satire, irony, metaphor, hyperbole, labeling, binary opposition, and political humor. In the dimension of discursive practice, Mens Rea is the result of the transformation of various public issues that have developed in the mass media, social media, and the political sphere, which are then reproduced through the global Netflix platform, thereby expanding their distribution, consumption, and public debate. In the dimension of socio-cultural practice, political humor functions as a form of counter-hegemony that encourages citizen participation in monitoring power while simultaneously fostering a space for democratic discussion. Based on the second focus of this study, the findings revealed that 31 data points fall under free speech, 17 under offensive, and 2 in the gray area, with no instances of hate speech identified. A key finding (novelty) in this study lies in the identification of the gray area, which highlights a zone of semantic ambiguity within Mens Rea humor. The two data points classified as gray area “MR/P/N/24” and “MR/P/N/43” demonstrate that a statement can cause moral harm through stereotyping or symbolic delegitimization without meeting the criteria for hate speech. As for the third focus of this study, it found that the discourse on Mens Rea has implications for the vitality of public discourse, strengthens the relationship between democracy and the law, and reinforces the role of humor as a means of criticism in a democracy.