oh-oh-ohh this is "nightline." >> tonight -- the powerful oscar performance of "till it happens to you." lady gaga surroded by survivors of sexual violence. that song from "the hunting ground." calling the world's attention to the epimic of rape culture on college campuses. tonight, we're with two activists from that stage fighting to make colges safe. plus inside portlandia. the sketch comedy tv show that's gathered a cult following. how fred arm miss 10 and kerry brad stein have become hipster heros that may resemble versions

political takedown? a journalist violently thrown to the ground at a trump rally by secret service. marco rubio taking on trump with schoolyard taunts. with onlyours until the super tuesday showdown can any of the candidates stop trump? but first the "nightline 5." >> when you're t told you have cancer, start with a specialist. start with aeam of experts who treat only cancer. every stage, every day. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts. appointments available now. hey, need fast heartburn relief? zantac releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac no pill relieves heartburn faster.

seconds. good evening. thanks for joining us. the women you're about too mt sayollege campuses have become a hunting ground. where all too many stunts become victims of sexual assault. lady gaga's performance at the oscars calling the world's attention to the ongoing epidemic. tonight we're with two survivors turned activists who have taken their fight from college campuses to the courthouse, now to the oscar stage. y t tell me igets better >> reporter: it was a show-stopping performance. you say to pull myself >> reporter: lady gaga passionately belting out her song "till ihappens to you." till it hpens to you >> reporter: suddenly surroundeded by 50 sexual assault survivors. men and women with unbreakable and not your fault emblazoned on

the young survivors bame the more than crescendo to lady gaga's oscar-nominated song written for the searing campus rape documentary "the hunting ground." till it happens to you you won't know how i feel >> reporter: i it bught the a-list room to its feet. captured on twitter, best actress winner brie larson hugging each person as they came offhe stage. lady gaga later posting on instagram, thank you for standing next to me on stage. 50 survivors so brave, relentless determination. >> i am myself a survivor. very grateful to the academy for giving us this world stage. >> reporter: the artist who's gone public about her own sexual assault was introduced on stage by vice president joe biden. issuing aall to action.

that says, i will intervene in situations when consent has not or cannot be given. let's change the culture. >> reporter: it seems the call was heard with the it's on us campaign hitting 300,000 pledges following the vice president's speech. >> one of the first things lady gaga said was, i want you to make them feel your pain. which at first it was just -- wow, that was really deep, what does that mean? but i think we definitely felt a lot of pa, a lot of courage, on that stage. >> reporter: for some of the 50 people on stage, this was the first time they came forward about their assaults. but a number of them, including annie clark and andrea pinot, courageously told their stories in "the hunting ground" documentary. >> we've got a lot further to go. >> the first few weeks i made some of my best friends. but two of us were sexually assaulted before classes had

>> reporter: annie and andrea together helped found the group end rape on campus after they say they were both raped while attending universy of north carolina. >> ourare colleges safe? they could be but we're n doing enough yet. >> reporter: the issue of rape on campus explodeing on the national consciousness, provoking conversations at universities nationwide. >> when we're behind stage a lot of similar themes were repeated. and one of them was, my assault was bad, my rape was bad -- but was worse. >> there's a lot of victim blaming. >> he lectured us about how we skirts. >> reporter: the filmmakers behind "the hunting ground" sought to expose what t they saw a shocking epidemic of violence and substitutional cover-up. >> universities are protecting a brand. >> reporter: sweeping college campuses across america. >> when you're scared, when you don't know what's happing to you -- you just stay there and

>> reporter: annie and andrea sat down with my colleague a robach lastyear. annie says she faced more questions than support when she reported her incident to carolina. >> why didn't you go to police? >> i didn't know who it was. i was scared. and i was young. you hear horror stories. i know there are a lot of wonderful police officers out there, but to sit through and explain to a total stranger the absolute worst thing that happened to your body -- i didn't want my friends to know, i didn't want my parents to know. >> reporter: according to the bureau of justice statistics, only 20% of sexual assaults on college females are reported to police. andrea and annie say their frustration over unc's respons motivated them to take action, filing a title ix complaint with the department of education. something they learned about in class at that same university. >> itust came up. one of the political science

laws, anita hill, reading about how title ix was originally gender equity, not sports. >> reporter: their central argument, unc's handling of sexual assault allegegations violated their civil right to education. annie and andrea helping spur a national movement encouraraging women at colleges arnd the country to come forward. >> my name is carolyn. >> my nam is alexa. >> my n name is ari. >> we started seeing what was happening at campuses across the country. >> why has no one connected the dots before? >> one of the big problems that is schools don't want to be spearheading this issue. what schools have to be doing is prioritizing less their image and more the safety of their students and actually empowering those reportstudents to report if anything happens to me. >> reporter: in a statement to abc n news unc said they'veve implemented a comprehensively revised policy on sexual assault and mandatory prevention training adding, this documentary heightens awareness. it shows how the strong activism

our former students,ave changed federal law. >> one of the things that schools really struggle with is theyhink it's going to go away. but we're not going to go away. we're not going to be avoiding these lawsuits. they have to start thinking that survivors have to be the priority in these conversations. >> reporter: just last month, florida state university settled a high-profile title ix case involving tampa bay buccaneers quarterback jameis winston, a former student. >> i kind of just want to know -- why me? >> reporter: in "the hunting ground," erika kinsman claims she was raped by the football star when they were classmates. winston maintained his innocence, was never charged by police,as cleared by the university. then erika filed that title ix lawsuit against fsu for failing to properly investigate the incident. the university settled for close to $1 million in change for her dropping the suit. the university president saying

in order to move forward and that they believe that the ultimate outcome of a trial would have been consistent wh the previous law enforcement investigations. >> more than anything, erika really wants fsu to support survors. that's why she did this, that's why she came oard. she's getting nothing out of this. the exact same reason we did, we want other people to know they are not alone. >> reporter: that's what they say last night was about, standing together in a unified fronont. several even got matching tattoos. an image of a rose on fire that means unity. they tell us that lady gaga is planning a matching one of her own. >> the fact that we're all on the stage together, we're all connected through this horrific experience, but f finally taking a stand -- think it shows a shift in our culture. and you shouldn't have to stand on an oscar stage to be believed and supported. >> you can see the full documentary "the hunting ground" on itunes now. why portlandia is rallying a cult following.

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you know the hilarious tv show "portlandia" as full-fledged cult favorite poking fun at the hipster culture of portland, oregon. our nick watt is with the "portlandia" comic duo riffing on how they show is influencing our culture. >> i guess i do have a question about the chicken if you could just tell us a little bit more about it. >> reporter: if you actually order food like this -- >> you have this information -- this is fantastic. >> absolutely.

here are his papers. >> that's great. he looks like a happy little guy, runs around. >> welcome to women and women first. >> reporter: bookstores like this. >> different daughters? >> we could order that, it will take a year to get here. >> it has to be written. >> reporter: if you are as hipster-precious as this. >> we read an article about artisan knots in "the sunday times." >> what's that? >> huh. >> reporter: if you are, shouldn't the show "portlandia" really, really offend you? >> i do like walking around downtown. >> reporter: we met the show's creators and stars crie brandsteinin and fre armisten at the very portland a hotel. here in l.a. they spoof the ace in the show, call it the deuce. >> we give out free typewriters, you want one? >> oh my go >> hi, how's it going? >> reporter: and hipster fans confirmed they're not offended.

>> wow. >> reporter: the show praised and panned on the hipster mores of portland, oregon, the capital of weird. you kn, the bikes. artis natural products. uber earnestness. >> go ahead. >> no, no, go ahead. >> go ahead. >> you go. you first. season - >> get ou >> the name has become a kind of shorthand, oh, that's so portlandia. something to me. it's really nice. >> reporter: partly why those lampooned love them? it's on you? >> it's on me. people. >> i didn't know you did. >> okay. >> reporter: this is not comedy in the unkind -- >> go vegan! >> i skipped wilshire, took beverly to santa monica --

decade on "snl," armisen knows what wos. >> there's a love audience there. the mear a sketch was the less the audience reacted. if it stays in a place that comes from some kind of affection, it does a little better. >> reporter: they're hipster selfware. >> we are these people. it's exploration, it's not mean spirited. you are these people? >> without a doubt. >> absolutely. see, now you're making fun of us, speaking about our characters and thinking -- >> i'm not making fun of anybody. >> i can tell, i feel so dredged. >> reporter: after sipping cough tee at stumptown. >> i'v always liked stumptown. we almost called the show "stumptown." >> reporter: we headed to the la bookstore. >> i got you something. >> reporter: if a bookstore could self-describe as artisnal this one would. >> this is the venn diagram of everything i love right now. dogs, books. >> reporter: it could be the scene of arguesbly their most famous contracts. >> you'ree touching it. >> that's not enough to pull it

characters and turned them into literally the most popular characters on our show. all of a sudden you have these feminist superheroes. >> repter: their life i art. their art is life. >> welcome to portland's allergy pride parade. >> there's a certain point where you're at a organic grocery store, at a restaurant catering to your gluten-fre needs, that you think, wow, this is -- what a luxury to be able to have this as myy problem. we're not separate from that but i think we also sort of -- we're exploring it. >> reporter: the show has moved beyond short sharp sketch to longer tales with our heroes playing versions of themselves. >> good night, carrie. >> good night, fred. >> s sometimest's subtly off. sometimes it't's night and day from who we ar but it is fun to play a version >> let's not go. >> ski it. >> i can't this year. >> reporter: the s sson entire episode deals with the early middle aged admitting they'd rather watch from home than actually go to the music festival. >> we're introducing the first

using drones. >> new technology. >> you want to be someplace where you don't have to stand at all. >> it's more the bathrooms. >> yes. you're in a linehe whole time for the bathroom. i'm thinking about it the entire time. i'm not enjoying myself. >> the flaming lips, yeah. >> i'm sorry, who are you? flaming lips. lips guest star. >> do i look like a pimp? >> when a man pulls out money wonder. >> reporter: over the years, steve buscemi -- >> i can't believe i'm meeting you guys. >> reporter: a real-life mayor of portland -- >> i'm still waiting to hear back from my guy. >> i still get to say, live in new york, it's saturday night particular. >> reporter: armisten has a comedy background -- >> you're theunniest half-german person i've met. >> danke schoen. >> rorter: brownstein does not. she was an indie band icon when

>> had a button with my face on it. >> what? >> i know, creepy. also slattering. >> i love slater king so much, her band. they are my favorite band. >> how did you know she was going to be funny? >> a as soon a i met her, i knew she was going to be funny. she's just perfectly funny. >> i just sew this bird onto the pillow -- >> reporter: also does this and they are now best friends on and off theshow. >> apparently you scream and you like it? >> aahhh! >> the way she does it is like -- it's chilling. it's possessed. always surprises me. >> aahhh! >> aahhh! >> harsh, man, why? >> reporter: and portland's tics, portland's leif motifs are now everywhere. >> the more that i travel, the mo that we trav, i keep finding that city, the aspects of that cicity,ll over the place. >> i want you to want something. >> the breakfast burger. >> great. >> and the pancakes. >> no. >> reporter: despite its name the show reflects a time, not just a place.

and it's part of a bigger cultural conversation we're having about this stuff. >> reporter: truth is, maybe we're all a little bit portlandia ourselves. >> a little san francisco right now. try to -- try to -- sorry. much better. welcome to portland. >> reporter: i'm nick watt for "nightline." in los angeles. >> and you too can watch "portlandia" thursdays on ifc. up next, with only hours until super tuesday, why a journalist was roughed up p at a trump rally.y. guys, it's just the two of you. the setting is just right. there's something in the air. but here's the thing: about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection.

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it's the eve of the single biggest day of voting until november. and it's an all-out political brawl. donald trump surging ahead in yet another new national poll. but can he holold his lead after coming under fire for dodging a question about the kkk? and tonight a rally that turned violent. here's abc's david wright. >>eporter: a raucous rally at radford university and a reporter roughed up by a member of donald trump's secret service detail. the "time" magazine photographer chris morris says he stepped out of the press pen. secret service agent blocked him. harsh words exchanged. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: witnesses say that's when the agent grabbed him by the neck, threw him down. the republican primary seems like a schchoolyardrawl these days. >> rubio's 1-0. i have never seen a human being

>> reporter: the tone set not just by trump, mocking his rivals, but by his rivals mocking him. >> he doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan. >> reporter: marco rubio hasn't yet called trump a short-fingered bulgarian -- >> i don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who's 5'2", have you seenn his hands? they're like this. and you know what they say about men with small hands. >> reporter: he's used just about every other insult. >> you can't trust them. >> reporter: morris has since apologized for escalating this confrontation. >> he choked me so i put my hand on him and that's when i was arrested. >> reporter: the trump campaign and the secret service have yet to apologize to him. i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. >> and donald trump will be on gma tomorrow. so stay tuned. thanks for watching. we'll have full coverage tomorrow night for super tuesday with the entire powerhouse political team beginning at 10:00 p.m. eastern.

our "nightline" facebook page. and at abcnews.com. good night, america. "the insider," counting down the biggest stories tracking today. report card. >> i'm here at academy awards. otherwise known a white people's choice awards.

the race issue head on. >> some stuff works, some stuff doesn't. then the oscar's biggest up set. and inside lady gaga's moment that survivors "assault" moved oscar stars to tears. and we go i the making of the oscar's best dressed. plus insider bonus. >> the oscar goes to leon nard doe d >> oscar, oscar, if we're a little loo it's because we