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'P-Valley' writers call out '#misogynoir' after fans fail to empathize with abuse victim Keyshawn in finale

"All of these threats of violence against a victim of domestic abuse... It’s peak #misogynoir," said a tweet from the show's writers who were appalled at the hate directed at Keyshawn for pulling a gun on Diamond

Things got heated on Twitter after the 'P-Valley' finale aired. Most fans following the show were rooting for a hook up between Keyshawn (aka Miss Mississippi) and Diamond but had a rude surprise on Sunday night. In the deadly last moments of the finale, we saw Derrick threaten Miss Mississippi to be out in the car in five minutes. Keyshawn looks terrified and she believes that she could be killed that night because Derrick was so angry at her. So she takes Hailey's gun from the locker for protection as her contingency plan. But she ends up pointing that gun at Diamond to stop him from beating up Derrick, choosing to protect her abuser in the end. 

This turn of events didn't sit well with most fans who began hating on the character with some pretty vitriolic tweets. "Keyshawn gotta go!! We don't need her anymore!!" said one tweet, tagging P-Valley's "Writers room" Twitter handle.     

Others were even more caustic like this one: "Good morning to everyone but Keyshawn aka Mississippi from #PValley. That b***h can get bent with her crooked letter humpback a**". The insult referenced the chant used on the show to spell out her stage name -- "M-I- crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I" to spell "Mississippi".

Another user, also riffing on her stage name said she did not deserve to be called "Miss Mississippi" after her actions. "Keyshawn don't deserve the honor of being called Miss Mississippi. Sis, I understand the difficult psychology of leaving your abuser but you pulled a gun on DIAMOND??"

Others felt that abused women should be left to their own devices and that it was foolish to jump into "domestic disputes". "What Mississippi did to Diamond on the last episode of P-Valley is why you can’t be just jumping in people’s domestic disputes," remarked one tweet, followed by several tweets agreeing with this opinion.  

Others said they would pay no attention the next time Keyshawn walked into the Pynk with a black eye. "Now when Mississippi come around with another black eye, Ima just keep on pushing," said one of these tweets, with an accompanying gif of a woman eating and shaking her head.

However, none of these tweets seemed to take into account that Keyshawn has not only been in this abusive relationship for a while, ceding all control to Derrick, but also the fact that Derrick is her baby's father. We already know that in her universe, "Black girls don't bruise", as she told Lil' Murda once. Also, in her warped traumatic worldview, her "family" consists of her, Derrick, and their baby. Diamond is a man who is occasionally kind to her but ultimately he is "not family" in her head, though he would like to be. 

The verbal abuse heaped on Keyshawn's character forced P-Valley's Writers' Room Twitter handle to comment on how toxic these tweets were. "All of these threats of violence against a victim of domestic abuse... It’s peak #misogynoir," their tweet remarked while trying to explain why Keyshawn behaved the way she did.

Showrunner Katori Hall also had to chime in to explain Keyshawn's actions. "In the season finale, to see Keyshawn impulsively protect her abuser is heartbreaking. Her pulling that pink gun on Diamond instead of Derrick is of course a highly dramatized version of that type of protection, but it's reflective of women who do things from make excuses to lie to refuse to press charges to protect their abusers. While it's hard to see, it's real."

But the staunchest defense came from Shannon Thorton who plays Keyshawn on the show as she called out the toxic tweets directed at her character. "Nah, I knew ppl would be ignorant and disrespect women who are being abused and have protected their abusers in real life. Making fun of ppl who’ve been thru this type of pain. All bc y’all want to watch 2 pretty actors have fake sex on TV. Smh"

Co-star Skyler Joy, who plays Gidget on the show also piped up in defense of the character saying: "You know it’s getting extremely dangerous when an abuser isn’t afraid to put their hands on their partner in public. If Derrick acts like this in public just imagine how he acts behind closed doors."

Katori Hall also teased that Season 2 would fill in the backstory about Keyshawn that would help the audience better understand her actions and motivations. "In S2 we will get to understand her interracial relationship, her own personal history with abuse and the current abuse she's combating with Derrick. Stay tuned. Her story is important for our community to see." 

Hopefully, by the time Season 2 rolls in, fans will have a more balanced perspective on Keyshawn's character and how trauma and abuse frequently translate into a Stockholm Syndrome-like defense of the abuser by abuse victims. Unlike Hailey, Keyshawn has a long way to go before she can rid herself of Derrick.

Both she and Diamond did not turn up for Pynk's auction, which goes to show that both will be irretrievably changed (and scarred) by the events of Pynk's "Murda Night".

'P-Valley' Episode 8 finale aired on September 8 on Starz.