this is "nightline." tonight, these women selling extra steamy coffee. and it is great for business. but is it too hot. it is the bikini barista backlash. meet the moms on a mission to fight what they see as indecent exposure. while others defend their right to buy a cup of joe with extra sugar. plus the great fall. everything changed in the blink of an eye. now in an exclusive interview. a performer in the circus act gone horribly wrong speaks out for the first time opening up about how and why it all went down. >> we heard a huge crack and just go down. >> mvp most valuable player. >> most valuable mom. the woman behind the nba's mvp.

>> eye made us believe. >> basketball star, kevin durant's emotional nod to his biggest fan. >> you are the real mvp. [ applause ] >> but first, "the "nightline" 5." macy's one-day sale saturday. doors open at 9:00 a.m.

good evening. as coffee stand pop up on almost every corner, the competition can heat up. one way to add an extra kick to the caffeine, have your baristas wear next to nothing giving new meaning to a tall skinny latte. with fewer clothes comes much greater scrutiny. not surprisingly, controversy. here is abc's neil karlinsky. >> reporter: in spokane, washington there are two kind of coffee hot, and, well -- choose your cliche. sizzling, whatever. this is where soft porn meets soy lattes. what are you selling here, exactly? >> coffee. >> reporter: just coffee. >> coffee. and some booby action some times. >> talking to a barista with stickers, or pasties that cover part of her may seem weird.

until you realize this is the land of the so-called bikini baristas. >> you can't be shy. wearing what i wear. >> reporter: like it or not. a shrewd business move. drive-through coffee stand may not look like much. but they can be very profitable. last year men between 18 and 54 spent $7 billion buying scoff fee from drive-throughs, up more than 8% from 2012. add in sex appeal, and fair beans, big shots, and devil's brew and you have the marketing sizzle. starbuck's can't or won't touch. you ever feel creeped out, guys are coming here and oogling. >> they never make it seem that way. once in a while you get a creepy one that says weird stuff. it doesn't happen that much. >> to say not everyone is thrilled with half naked twenty

somethings selling coffee is an understatement. >> good to tell people. you cannot just avoid it. sound nice in theory. you can't just drive down other streets. these are on all the most main your streets in spokane. >> reporter: meet two moms in a growing army that is trying to change spokane's indecent expope sure laws to force bikini baristas to get dressed. kimberly says it all started during a simple drive through town with her family. >> my daughter just said, mommy, look there is a lady without a shirt on. and i was like, what? then we all turned our heads. and at that point, my, my 3, 5 and 7-year-olds were exposed to something that i would never have wanted them to see. >> reporter: that was enough for the mothers to mobilize. we caught up with them, petitions in hand during their first door knocking session. while they worked the playground. together the 10,000 signatures it could take to put the issue on a city wide bal elt in

novemb -- bal ballet in november. >> outside seattle the mom's worst fears came true. a police sting, revealed women baring all for extra cash. similar activity at stabbed in the area led to a new law just this year. restricting the use of pasties and tape instead of bikinis. >> this is our city. and we should have the right to choose what we will or what we will not allow. >> reporter: the moms say they're determined to force a crackdown to make knowing exposure of body parts in a public place without full or opaque covering, unlawful. in oregon, the bikini barista boss there, voluntarily backed down. >> i have done this to reduce tension, and without restrictions on my entire business plan just according to a small group's belief on morality. >> reporter: if you wonder who

would have the chutzpah to put women up to this kind of thing in the first place you. are probably not imagining a mother of three who admits she could never do this? but owner sarah burnell its not worried about a change in the law. >> you have to pass laws that apply to everybody. if they're going to tell the girls to cover up more. they're going to tell everybody to cover up more. it is not going to sit well. >> reporter: who else? who its everybody? >> people at the beach. you, me. people walking down the road. >> she owns three stands and says the business model is as simple as you imagine. sex sells including coffee. putting these coffee stand on a level normal ones can't touch. >> makes more money. >> that big of a difference. >> that big. huge. >> like 50% more? >> close to 100% more. >> reporter: have you ever had anyone hassle you when you came to work? >> one family came and said my family should be ashamed to have me as a daughter. because i am dressed look this.

>> reporter: what's the line for you as to how much they should show? >> whatever is legal. but any kind of provocative behavior is not okay. >> reporter: if there was ever an issue to invoke america over a bare-chested americano, this is a parentally it. >> take away people's freedoms. once you start doing that. what they can and can't wear. a constitutional issue right there. >> these girls are not pretty, they make good cup of coffee, they're friendly, good for them. they have a bed that can do that. and i think a lot of women are insecure about that. >> reporter: if there is one thing that baristas have plenty of. loyal customers, rushing to their defense. >> i've gone to different stand. once i started going to this stand the i didn't go to an other stand. they get all my business. >> reporter: meanwhile between the bikini baristas, there is a

new front. chest in the campaign. former male stripper, chris mullens opened the town's first topless men's coffee stand. >> what are you doing? >> you know? obviously we are not going to show off anything nude. everybody will raise a stink about the bikini stand. well, you know, being that i was a stripper at one point, this should be kind of fun. >> he is scouting for locations to open a second stand. so far his business which sells coffee and hot dogs hasn't quite taken off the way the lady have. >> you seem disappointed no one has complained about it. >> i kind of hoped to raise a little eyebrow. >> reporter: the moms insist it is no double standard. shirtless men are publicly acceptable. they're fine with bikinis, too, they say just not the more provocative stuff. >> i think allowing anything like this is just the tipping point. it is just going to keep escalating where it is all over.

it is accessible. i want to go to the beach and petition. i see half naked people and freak out. the same thing. just ridiculous. >> reporter: forget what tastes better. tonight the coffee war being fought from here to los angeles is over it. i'm neil karlinsky for "nightline." >> next, one minute she was up in the air. the next she came crashing down. an injured circus pr foerformer opens up for the first time about what went wrong. atrial f, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto. like warfarin, xarelto is proven effective

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tonight we are hearing from a circus performer for the first time since she and eight others were injured after crashing down in a horrific accident caught on tape during a live show. how did it happen? what was she thinking as she hit the ground? would she consider performing again? here is abc's linzie janis. >> reporter: one of the circus worlds most daring and painful acts. so dangerous the ancient stunt is seldom even taught. painful because the acrobats hang and even hang others from their hair. >> i never thought i would do hair hanging because it is so specialized. >> reporter: to day is an abc news exclusive, 23-year-old samantha pitard one of the performers of the stunt that proved death defying. told her story for the first time. >> we all know we are risking our lives every time we go up.

>> reporter: if it is possible for a spectacular act known as the human chandelier to begin unremarkably, she says it did that day. >> we take our black robes off. we warm up a little bit more. we get hooked up. >> reporter: hooked in circus-speak means being rigged to a metal apparatus that is attached by a single clip to a larger ceiling-like structure. >> we all knew it well. we all loved doing it. beautiful act. >> reporter: samantha who began going to circus camp as a teen was one of the girls in outer circle during sunday's ill-fated performance. but she says she often performed the role of base, just like this woman hanging upside down in the middle of the chandelier, straddling two fabric stilts. if that wasn't enough. >> there is one point in the act where i hold two girls at one time. by my hair. i am upside down. i have two girls hanging underneath me. all by my hair.

>> reporter: a head of human hair so strong it can support tons. this promotional video of a rival circus act shows how the women keep their hair wet, tying knots and braids around the steel rings that will suspend them three stories above the crowd. but that day the stunt that came off without a hitch since the show opened in january went wildly wrong. >> heard a really loud pop. and then weep just plummeted to the ground. we just hit the ground really fast. i was still conscious. breathe, really hard i was really hard to catch my breath. because of the impact and the shock. >> we ask that -- >> once i caught my breath i was really concerned about all the girls, of course.

>> reporter: the lights are lowered. in performance tdarkness the pe to orient themselves. >> i was looking at all the girls. trying to. they are like you need to lay down. its everybody alive? is everybody okay. >> reporter: miraculously all eight performers and another circus artist under the structure when it collapsed survived the 30-foot drop. the accident is raising question as but safety. >> the circus industry really doesn't have any regulation. >> history awaits -- nick walenda and the wire and niagara are yours. >> reporter: walenda best known for walking across niagara falls on a tightrope. now says some circus accidents scud could be prevented if the engineers had stricter standards. >> 90% plus of the accidents in our industry that are, that cause death or serious injury

are rigging related. >> reporter: in this case, suspicion has fallen upon the suspension of the chandelier structure. osha is investigating. and the company that owns and operates the circus, has promised a thorough review. >> we don't know exactly what happened. but we are going to get to the bottom of it. just make sure going forward, the performers safety is taken care of. >> if you watch the video. soon as the girls lift the legs up. a change in momentum. changes the load. they weigh 1,500. if they bounce or move. that magnifies and multiplies that load. that's where stuff can fail. >> samantha's injuries were less severe than the seven others still hospitalized. two with critical spinal cord injuries. >> i love these girls so much the we are family. we are going to get through this together. >> reporter: doctors who have performed a total of 17 operations on the eight women marveling at how tough they are. >> there was one story where one of the injured performers, was

in some pain. but didn't want to take the pain medicine. they didn't want to get out of sink with their stretching routine. already thinking about their recovery. >> reporter: even from her sick bed, samantha expressed nothing but faith in the management of her show and nothing but determination to fly again under the big top. >> i can't wait to get back in the air and perform again. >> samantha was released from the rhode island hospital but is returning to visit other injured performers still being treated. next. >> why a mother/son moment had some of the world's celebrated athletes breaking down. when jake and i first set out on we ate anything. but in time you realize the better you eat, the better you feel.

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>> with mother's day around the corner, we are frying to figure out how to best celebrate mom. one nba star took advantage of a moment in the spot light to do just that. he is being called the best basketball player in the world right now. winning four scoring titles in the past five years. carrying his team to the playoffs this year with his flawless jumper. but never taking home the league's highest honor until now. >> nba most valuable player, kevin durant. last night. oklahoma city thunder's kevin durant received the award for the nba's most valuable player. >> wow, wow, thank you guys so much. >> but at the ceremony he wanted to give credit where it is due to his mom. wanda pratt. >> you had my brother when you were 18 years old.

three years later i came out. the odd were stacked against us. single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. >> reporter: durant got emotional describing his mother's sacrifices and how struggles early on shaped his winning attitude. we weren't supposed to be here. you made us believe, you kept us off the street, put clothes on our backs, food on the table. when you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. you want to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you are the real mvp. >> in the audience pratt wasn't the only one tearing up. setting the bar high for offspring everywhere this week before mother's day.

>> go kevin. go mom. tomorrow, coming up on "nightline" an undercover investigation into disability fraud. why are so many frying trying t the system? why are they getting caught? we will have shocking results. thank you for watching. tune in to "good morning america" tomorrow. and as always we are online at abcnews.com. good night.