Since the explosion of gossip blogs and the resurgence of celebrity magazines, L.A.'s courthouses have grown used to accommodating throngs of paparazzi, videographers, camera crews and reporters who trail the famous to their dates with infamy.
But the crowd expected at this afternoon's preliminary hearing for R&B singer Chris Brown will be on a different order. Fifty-two media outlets have asked to attend the proceeding, far more than were on hand for Paris Hilton's re-jailing, Britney Spears' divorce, the DUI cases of Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, or the murder trials of Robert Blake or Phil Spector.
"I've never seen this kind of interest, and I've been here seven years," said court spokesman Allan Parachini.
Brown, 20, and his alleged victim, the glamorous 21-year-old pop princess Rihanna, are superstars to the young demographic most interested in celebrity news. Their romance was tabloid fodder before his February arrest for allegedly beating and threatening her during an argument in his rented Lamborghini. The altercation occurred as the couple drove home from a pre-Grammy party, and the news that Rihanna was injured and Brown wanted by police surfaced the next day as scores of celebrity reporters awaited the couple's arrival on the red carpet.
"The way it broke -- so fast and so big out of the gate -- has a lot to do with [the public's interest]. There was this big audience exposed to the story as it started," said Ken Baker, E!'s executive news editor.
Since then, coverage has intensified, with breathless and often contradictory updates about trips to nightclubs, potential new love interests and the evidence in the court case, including text messages from another woman that reportedly triggered the quarrel.
"At the heart of it is this intense romance between these two beautiful people that went bad in this very public way. It has this raw, sensational drama to it," said Baker, who will be in the courtroom for the proceeding.
The preliminary hearing promises something those covering the case could only dream about -- on-the-record sources sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Rihanna could testify, as could Hancock Park residents who witnessed part of the incident. The prospect of such testimony has attracted an array of organizations, from what the court spokesman called "the usual suspects" -- Us, People, TMZ.com -- to "German TV, the Mainichi newspaper from Tokyo, Australian radio, and a publication called Beauty & the Dirt."
