LOS ANGELES — Which surprise guest silenced the stars on the blue carpet when a black, dark-tinted SUV dropped him off at Saturday's Teen Choice Awards?
Whose name was chanted when his bodyguard escorted him to a seat near the stage at the Universal Amphitheatre? And who got more applause from teenagers than any other winner when former Laker Girl Paula Abdul presented a surfboard trophy to him for being named Choice Male Athlete by 12.5 million online voters?
That would be Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who is due in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing on charges of felony sexual assault. A 19-year-old hotel worker has accused Bryant of sexually assaulting her June 30 at a resort in Colorado. He admits to having sex with the woman but says it was consensual.
Voting for the Teen Choice Awards began on AOL in June and continued through last week. Bryant was arrested July 4. This was the fourth time the Laker has won the male athlete award; the other finalists in the category this year were Yankee Derek Jeter, skateboarder Tony Hawk and surfer Kelly Slater. The awards will air on Fox Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
With his wife, Vanessa, looking on, Bryant took the stage and thanked her and other supporters. "I'm going through some dark clouds right now," he said.
Bryant was the hot topic of conversation among presenters and honorees. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson told USA TODAY: "Kobe's my boy ... I support him. If he wants to come out, he should."
In other celeb news, Jessica Alba confirmed that she and fiancé Michael Weatherly have broken up. "It's true," frowned the star, who declined to elaborate.
Hilary Duff, who was named female breakout movie star, also announced that she's newly single, having split with boyfriend Aaron Carter. "It was about a month and a half ago," Duff said. "I'm just 15, so we break up and get back together all the time." Apparently she and Freaky Friday star Lindsay Lohan learned they were both sharing Carter as a boyfriend over the past two years. "There was some mess that went on, but Aaron and I are cool; Lindsay and I are cool — everything's all good."
Duff, whose Stuff By Hilary Duff clothing line debuts at Target stores this fall, was escorted to the event by Lohan's Freaky Friday boyfriend, Chad Michael Murray, who next stars opposite Duff in A Cinderella Story. Though Duff also popped up as Murray's date to a recent promo party for his WB fall drama, One Tree Hill, the almost 22-year-old Murray says he's not dating Duff. "She's 15, dude."
Tara Reid arrived in burgundy Oscar de la Renta, looking like a vintage Hollywood glamour gal — an attempt, her publicist said, to alter her client's image as the party girl who was lampooned on MTV's Carson DalyBash special last month.
The evening's host, David Spade, didn't help matters by warning Reid during the show to steer clear of the mock cocktail bar erected on the stage. "Easy, Tara Reid," Spade joked. "It's not a real bar."
Brittany Murphy was inseparable all evening from her 9-year-old Uptown Girls co-star, Dakota Fanning. With Fanning in earshot, Murphy deemed it inappropriate to discuss the fact that ex-love Ashton Kutcher was seated just a few feet away from her during the show, except to say it was all "exciting."
Murphy clapped with more enthusiasm than anyone when Kutcher was declared Choice variety/reality host for Punk'd.
In his speech, Kutcher gave a shout out to "Scout" — as in Willis, the daughter of girlfriend Demi Moore and her ex, Bruce Willis. Kutcher brought the teenage Scout to the awards as his date. Scout said "it was totally awesome" when Kutcher mentioned her in his speech.
Other celebs in attendance: Britney Spears, favorite villain Colin Farrell (for Daredevil), and favorite comedian Jim Carrey, who came bandaged like a mummy — the result, he joked, of plastic surgery to keep him looking like a teen.