this is "nightline." >> tonight, fanning the flames. lil nas x taking the old town road to hell. going viral again. ♪ ad igniting controversy. how the "call me by your name" singer is confronting homophobia and selling out a special edition of satan shoes. plus, into the eye of the storm. >> holy cow! >> deadly twisters tearing through five states. ginger zee on the ground tracking it all. >> thesere thoseaw moments wh swp anth rnado just went thh >> now the s o surviv debris st coming down. i said dear god, please let it

stop. and how one young designer plans to stop the hate against asian americans. >> "nightline" will be right back. a workout? like scrub less with dawn ultra it's superior grease-cleaning formula gets to work faster, making easy work of tough messes. dawn is a go-to grease-cleaner throughout the kitchen, too. keep a bottle in the laundry room to pre-treat greasy stains. and keep dawn in the garage to lift grease off car rims. it's even gentle enough to clean wildlife affected by oil. dawn's grease cleaning power takes care of tough grease wherever it shows up. scrub less, save more...with dawn

thanks for joining us. tonight lil nas x once again sparking outrage. he says by staying true to himself.

gay, proud, and out with a new song and a pair of sneakers invoking fury of the fire and brimstone variety. here is "nightline's" singh ♪ >> some might say lil nas x survives on controversy ♪ the 21-year-old pop star first became a household name with his song "old town road", one of the biggest hits of 2019. >> old townroad, one, two, three, old town road! ♪ i got the horses in the back ♪ >> the song when it first debuted ignited a conversation about race and who gets to be countries. and now lil nas x is making headlines again, this time some in the conservative christian community in an uproar over his latest song and music video,

montero. ♪ you know that you can -- >> "call me by your name." it's these words and these images. lil nas x who is openly gay is seduced in the garden of eden and then slides down from heaven to hell and twerks on satan that has people glued to their scenes. with the music video gaining over 38 million views in just three days on youtube. >> lil these are people who likes what he does, and what he does is as much about the internet and as much about the visuals as it is about the music. >> but the racy song and video has some members of the conservative christian community up in arms. social media exploding with people reacting over what the song could mean for our souls. how did you first react when you saw that video? >> disgusted at the highest level. >> pastor mark burns is an evangelical minister for the

harvest praise and worship center in south carolina. >> he has a constitutional right to do so, to say so. just as we christians have a constitutional right to practice our faith. having said that, it is still disgusting, to see lil nas x acting as though he is having intercourse with satan on television. >> burns says he became concerned after watching the music video and seeing lil nas x advertising satan shoes, modeled after nike's air masks and causing 1,018 after the bible verse luke the shoes allegedly contain a drop of human blood and imagery like the pentagram. mischief, the creator of the shoe reportedly saying they'll sewed out in less than a minute. do you think lil nas x should be promoted? >> as long as lil nas x is promoting what we consider one of the most damaging images in our culture which is to satan,

and to glorify satan, if that's his belief system, he has a right to worship whoever he wants to worship, but we have a right to not buy his product. we have a right to go after the corporation that support and back him. >> nike is now suing mischief, saying nike is in no way connected with this project, and nike has not and does not approve or authorize the satan shoes. in a press release, lil nas x suggested that the imagery in the music video was intended to address homophobia, saying he was harnessing his sexuality to seduce the devil and strip of his power as an evil force. while dismantling the throne of judgment and punishment that has kept many of us embracing our true selves. >> i think there is a better way to communicate that message. you can use love. you can use togetherness. i'm against any attack verbally and physically against any lgbtq community member in this country. but there is a better way to communicate. >> lil' nas tweeting his

response to the controversy, writing a letter to his 14-year-old self saying this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist. >> to me the potential message to the youth in this video is that you can find strength in being exactly who you are, whoever that is. >> sarah marshall copost of pop culture podcast called "you're wrong about" which explores major media events from the past. marshall says the reaction to lil' nas' video is another example of the phenomenon satanic panic. >> what exactly are satanic panics and why do we see them happening so often culturally often in relation to pop music? >> that youth is becoming to powerful and transgressive and american sexuality is becoming too shameless. >> lil' nas is not the first artist to use religious imagery in his music to push the boundaries.

from the rolling stones in "sympathy for the devil," to madonna in "like a prayer". >> there is just nothing new about this at all. in fact, it's so much a common trope of rock 'n roll that we have to conclude that lil nas x knew exactly what he was doing. he was invoking this heritage. >> in a way by putting out this letter and saying that i am pushing an agenda, does that allow him to control the narrative in a way? >> he is conscious of what he is doing, and he is doing it in a particular way. and that means that he is attempting to control the narrative, but it's a big world. it's a big audience, and it's a big narrative. >> it's a big responsibility for an artist who just two years ago was a college drop-out living on his sister's couch in atlanta, determined to break through in any way possible.

>> life was me moving from sibling to sibling house, promoting my music like through twitter, you know, barely getting any reaction out of anything. >> how are you doing, nas? >> i first spoke to lil' nas in 2019, right when "old town road" was the hottest song in the world, as he was navigating his way from internet anonymity to superstar. ♪ i got the horses in the back ♪ >> over the course of a few months i was putting it into memes and forcing into it the internet in a way. ♪ i got the horses in the back ♪ >> old town road eventually went viral, climbing country music charts to number 19. but less than a week later, the song got the boot. in a statement to rolling stone, billboard stated that the track does not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version.

that decision led to outrage online. fans tweeting, wow, discrimination at its finest. after a remix with country legend billy ray cyrus, the song took off, becoming the number one song on billboard's hot 100 for 19 weeks straight. one thing's clear. as lil nas x continues lines between hip-hop and country, internet troll and globalstar, and now heaven and hell. he keeps stirring the pot. and whether you like it or not, we're still talking about him. >> i think it's a really beautiful video, and it feels like we're being asked to witness and appreciate a sexuality that has not been passed around twitter and shown to everyone in this way before and that it feels to me like brlitanver make

somespin >> our thanks to ashen. coming up, the stories of survival after a deadly round of tornadoes. when you skip the rinse with finish quantum, you save up to 20 gallons of water each time. finish quantum with activblu technology has the power to remove the toughest stains without pre-rinsing for dishes so clean they shine. join finish and skip the rinse to save our water. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. with... just 2 medicines... in 1 pill,... dovato is as effective as a 3-drug regimen... to help you reach and stay undetectable. research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed... and get to and stay undetectable... can no longer transmit hiv through sex. don't take dovato

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now to the deadly outbreak of roughly 40 tornadoes leaving a trail of destruction across the south, killing at least six people and destroying the homes of hundreds more. now the survivors searching through the rubble and recounting the moments they escaped the wrath of mother nature. here is abc's chief meteorologist ginger zee.

>> this is a large violent tornado that is down.t a long - >> holy cow! >> -- loud roar of wind. >> oh my god! >> it almost sounded like a freight train was right in the backyard. >> in the heart of a deadly tornado outbreak, the tales of survival still have us in awe. >> i kept telling him, the lights are still on, and the guy said your lights ain't on. he said you don't have a roof. >> i was praying. that was it. >> reporter: at least 36 reported tornadoes ripping through five states, shredding towns and lives. six people were killed. many more lost their home in an instant, and as tornado season ramps up, we, the scientists who study those tornadoes, have gotten really good in giving the general region and even the

timing you can expect violent long-track tornadoes. but -- >> oh, no! >> reporter: -- twisters are really small geographically, often less than a half mile wide. so to get that level of detail is not yet possible. >> but you never know that the night before you don't know exactly where the tornadoes will develop. exactly what track they will take. and that's the reason everybody has to be ready. and they do affect real people at a real place at a realtime. >> reporter: this year, alabama has already been hit so hard. just south of birminham in those populated disturbance, the rolling hills and beautiful homes of the eagle point neighborhood were attacked by that twister. >> by the grace of the good lord, we're still alive and thankful. we came out with just minor cuts. >> reporter: we arrive around a half hour after the tornado, even before some of the authorities. these are those raw moments where we show up and this tornado just went through. the fire and police just got the folks that were in this home out. they are alive. they went to the hospital. but there are homes with their roofs off.

there are homes collapsed, and this is just one of the neighborhoods that was impacted. for maryrose and larry, this is home. both retired from the university of alabama, just trying to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, until this fateful afternoon. >> i called my cousin felicia, and i said call 911. we're trapped. and she hung up and i heard the neighbors hollering. they dug us out. >> and you climbed out? >> climbed out. >> reporter: of your home that you've lived in for how long? >> 21 years. >> reporter: you've been here 21 years. you have not had an experience like this. >> never. >> reporter: but at this very moment, maryrose is searching for something so personal, so critical, her purse. >> that's it! that's the purse. >> reporter: oh you found the purse? oh, no way. here! yes! i'm not sure if their shock had totally worn off. they are understandably still shaken when i meet them. >> the roaring from the wind, and then all at once the house

started shaking. >> reporter: with the weight of their entire home collapsing on them in their basement, they got out thanks to the quick thinking neighbors. >> they put a ladder down to me, and they said you need to start climbing the ladder. i said i've never climbed a ladder before in my life. they say well you got to do it now. it happened so fast. i went up that ladder like nobody's business. >> when i finally got the door open and i saw across the street to larry and maryrose's house, that was at that point the only thing that mattered to me was them. >> reporter: tanya simms is mary's neighbor. she lives right across the street. while her home is still standing, there is not that much that is still salvageable. >> if you look in is where her bedroom is. open to the world. this. >> jimmy: this is your master? >> yes. >> reporter: and now the hard work begins. >> i mean, i brought my babies home to this house. we've been here, every memory.

we've gothe wall where we bin y. measured them, you know, growing up. >> as i was sitting right there watching the weather channel -- > reporter: by colleague spent time with others who lived through this disaster. so you huddled in the bathroom with your dog? >> yes, ma'am. closed the door. i had my dog. i was holding on to my dog because she was going crazy, and the house was shaking. you know, that lasted just a few seonds. and then it was just gone. it was complete silence. >> you've got to be sheltered. >> reporter: in alabama, veteran meteorologist james spahn is a living legend. he happens to be my mentor. >> all of these places right in through here was in danger. >> reporter: he was on tv in what would be a 12-hour marathon of warnings when he watched that tornado on the radar approaching his home. what we're going to do real quick is change my battery,

taylor. i'll be right back. tell me about when you realized that your house was being threatened and then hit? >> once it got within about five miles of my neighborhood, i knew that our house was right in the path of this thing. i felt this urgent responsibility, even though i know that at our house we have a weather radio, my wife has her phone. i had to make a direct communication with her to make sure she a in a shelter that we have at the house. >> the reason i had to step out, we've had major damage at my house. i've been out in the hall trying to make sure my family is okay. >> i've been doing this for 43 years. and i never had one right over my house. i've never had one directly affect my house like this. >> we're going toby showing you live pictures of severe weather. >> reporter: his voice a guide for decades in alabama. >> when we were downstairs, i ha one stationot knocked offhe a er w spahn again. tor are nr st. and i think te aba reallyg ading up to the event. five people were killed in my state. that's five people too many.

but the loss of life could have been much, much higher on that day. >> reporter: mobile homes are among the weakest in tornadoes. they just can't withstand 150-mile-per-hour winds, let alone 250. 70 miles away in calhoun county, the devastation is abundant. the resources and finances scarce. >> if i was off work a little bit earlier, i would have went home and sit in the house, and i probably wouldn't be here today. >> reporter: five people died in the area where james armstrong lived his entire life. in the mobile home park, he's lost everything. >> i lost everything i had. i didn't have insurance on my home or nothing. i've kept it up the whole life. and after i paid the home offers, i let it lapse. and this happened. >> reporter: for families like the arm strong, building a common shelter might be their best chance at survival. >> every year with technology and the research that's being done, the warning process gets better and better. but at the same time, we have to

have the right messaging. people have to hear those warnings. if the warnings are good and they're timely. if people don't hear them that. >> don't do any good. you have to have a noaa weather radio and a smartphone. people are getting that message. when they get the warning, they're starting to respond. they're starting to do the right thing. it's really working well this year. >> reporter: for now these folks are just left picking up the pieces. yes, they're looking to the future and hoping for the best, but it's tornado season. they have to prepare for the worst. >> i don't really know what i've lost, to tell you the truth. reality hasn't even hit me good yet. >> we've been here a long time, but we never been through a tornado. they've hit all around us, but i tell you one thing, i never want to go through another one. >> our thanks to ginger. up next, when fashion meets activism. how one young designer plans to stop asian hate. ♪

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finally tonight, the new face of justice. at just 13 years old, ashlyn so

of burlingame, california already making a name for herself in fashion. mao the teen merging two passions, art and activism, supporting the asian american community and calling for justice. creating face masks with the words "stand for asians and inspiring hope in others to stop the hate. our thanks to abc's localish for that story. and that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow.