UPDATE: I am told that Trent Jackson and the security team in Calabasas are employed by the estate of Michael Jackson. They can’t be fired by a family member.

EARLIER: First of all, the ABC News report on “Nightline” with Katherine Jackson reminded me not just a little bit of a hostage reading her kidnapper’s message to the press. Janet and Jermaine Jackson stood behind their mother as she read from a script. It was an orchestrated event, and ABC News– which sources tell bought footage from Randy Jackson for “Good Morning America’–just went along with it. The interviewing producer wasn’t allowed to ask questions! How completely unprofessional! That ABC has allowed itself to become the network of Janet, Jermaine and Randy just to grab access and ratings is very very disappointing.

Then: the hostage crisis. The warring Jacksons each have someone they want gone from the others’ camp. Randy, Jermaine, and Janet want their cousin Trent fired. Michael Jackson hired Trent personally, and Joe Jackson’s nephew has been a loyal and devoted assistant and caregiver to Katherine Jackson. Sources say that Randy in particular hates and resents Trent. Indeed, the “minor scuffle” at the house this week was between them. Trent, they say, put Randy in a headlock. Randy happily Tweeted today that Trent had been fired by his mother. But the reality of that remains to be seen.

Of course, the insiders in Calabasas want someone on the other side gone, too: Janice Smith, Katherine’s assistant. In the reading of the “hostage statement,” Katherine mentioned Janice Smith. From what I know, everyone in the Calabasas house hates Janice Smith. And here’s where it gets interesting. The children say that Janice helped arrange for Katherine’s fake trip to Arizona by telling everyone Mrs. Jackson would be attending her sons’ concerts in Arizona, Nevada, and California. In fact, it was Janice Smith who set up the visit to Miraval Spa in Tucscon, and knew that Mrs. Jackson would not be going to those shows.

Here’s how the whole thing went down according to those in Calabasas: The kids thought their grandmother was going on a road trip to see the shows with Trent. They said their goodbyes. Then Jermaine and Randy managed to axe Trent from the trip, and Janice went on the plane with Mrs. Jackson. In the next day, the infamous letter asking for the resignation of Michael Jackson’s executors appeared.

In the letter, Randy Jackson said his mother had had a “mini stroke.” Seeing this was what inflamed Paris Jackson, who knew no such thing had happened. That’s when she panicked and began Tweeting. It was probably also the moment she realized something was not right with her father’s family.

Now we see Katherine Jackson on ABC News flanked by certain members of her family who want Michael Jackson’s money. She says she’s returning to Los Angeles. It’s not like she’s in Bora Bora. Instead of reading that statement, why hadn’t she simply gone home? What is stopping her? Who? Hopefully once she is home, her advisors will explain what happened. The real question is, Will she listen and understand? Watch the ABC News Nightline video. It’s revelatory.

Someone is not telling the truth. Katherine Jackson was at the Miraval Spa in Tucson, Arizona. Her lawyer, Perry Sanders, just said in a press conference that he went there and was told Mrs. Jackson was in a room where there were no phone and no cell phones. I’m not sure he was told the truth.

I just spoke to Miraval, and cell phone use is allowed in EVERY room and there are landlines in EVERY room. If Mrs. Jackson wasn’t allowed to use the phone, something is very very wrong. Sanders wasn’t allowed to see Mrs. Jackson, prevented by Jermaine and Janet Jackson from making contact. And he’s her lawyer. Randy Jackson now says Mrs. Jackson is on her way home to Los Angeles and will regain custody. But wait until she’s told what really happened.

Somebody has a lot of explaining to do– to Mrs. Jackson and to Perry Sanders.

Note the phone on the desk in this photo:

The Jackson family imploded today, publicly. Judge Mitchell Beckloff has appointed TJ Jackson temporary guardian of Prince, Paris, and Blanket. Katherine Jackson’s guardianship was suspended. The judge almost didn’t hear the motion, and said that Debbie Rowe, mother of Prince and Paris, and Diana Ross, named in Michael Jackson’s will as successor guardian, had to be notified. Ross has never shown any interest in this. Rowe has approved of Katherine Jackson’s raising of her kids, but has expressed concern about the grandmother’s safety and condition. Rowe is said to be engaging a family attorney to represent her so she can support Mrs. Jackson and the kids.

Exclusive: Katherine Jackson finally spoke to her grandchildren by phone from Phoenix this morning. A source says the conversation “lasted a while.” The kids are said to be very relieved. But despite Randy Jackson’s statement this morning, Mrs. Jackson is still in Phoenix. It does like the guardianship hearing may take place anyway, with TJ Jackson, 34, being put forward as a temporary replacement. But the phone call, and the idea that Mrs. Jackson may return soon from Phoenix to Los Angeles, is an indication that Randy Jackson’s “palace coup”–which has very hurt Janet Jackson’s image–is coming to an end.

For the kids, it was 11 days of silence from their legal guardian and beloved grandmother. Her cell phone and laptop were taken from her. Her friends who play “Words with Friends” with Mrs. Jackson on the internet were very worried, too. “She loves playing with them.” Her kids, Janet, Randy, Jermaine, and Rebbie, isolated her from all regular activity.

Paris Jackson just Tweeted: “everyones taking control of me , it seems that the worlds got a role for me .. im so confused will u show to me you’ll be there for me” from the song “Will U Be There” by her father. What a day. What a weird situation!

Katherine Jackson coming back to Los Angeles? That’s what Randy Jackson, the mastermind of her vanishing, told “Good Morning America” this morning. If so, the gambit by Katherine’s lawyers and the Jackson children’s guardian ad litem to seek temporary guardianship in court, has worked. They’ve forced Randy, Jermaine and Janet to bring their mother home.

That should be some reunion. Wait until Katherine Jackson’s lawyers explain to her what happened, and what four of her kids (Rebbie included) did.

Randy Jackson will have lost all his power in the family. Last night three of his brothers went on “The Insider” to denounce him, if not by name. A fourth Tito, recanted signing the infamous letter to the executors. Jermaine has gone silent, suddenly. La Toya and Joseph Jackson have stayed out of the story entirely.

Possibly ruined from this: Janet Jackson, who’s wound up on the front page of every tabloid this morning allegedly calling niece Paris a bitch. Janet, who was always regarded as above it all, has let Randy pull her into his mud fight for money. Her declining career has now taken a beating. She barged into her mother’s rented estate and is seen on a security camera pulling a phone out of Paris’s hand. And yelling at her. What she called her doesn’t matter. It looks like a home invasion.

And the children: they’ll never forget the chaos into which they threw their lives. Paris, particularly.

But this is Randy Jackson’s history:

He was not a member of the Jackson 5, doesn’t sing, and doesn’t have gainful employment. He’s the Randy Jackson who’s been through at least one divorce and one bankruptcy. He’s relied heavily on Brian Oxman, an ex attorney recently disbarred for life in California.

Randy Jackson  almost cost Michael $45 million in sour deal and lawsuit from a company called Prescient Capital. The case was finally settled for a few million– of Michael’s, not Randy’s, money. This is the same Randy Jackson who fired Raymone Bain, Michael’s publicist, on the eve of the jury announcement in his child molestation trial June 2005. Michael had no press rep when the verdict came back “not guilty.”

He’s the same Randy Jackson who sold pictures and video of his family fighting among themselves to media outlets. One of Michael’s ex bodyguards claimed in the British press that Michael wanted to have Randy killed. And now Randy Jackson has caused permanent rifts in his family between Michael’s children and everyone else, with Michael’s mother, and among his siblings.

Not very well played.

Read:

http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/07/24/lawyers-will-seek-temporary-guardianship-for-michael-jacksons-kids

The cast of “Modern Family” didn’t show up on Tuesday for the table reading of the script for the first episode of the new season. They’re suing 20th Century Fox TV instead, invoking the “seven year law” that binds them to Fox and ABC exclusively and limits their pay. All of them are Emmy nominees–Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell. Not included in the suit, but apparently in sympathy, is the other cast member, Ed O’Neill. The lawsuit is about money, of course.

The actors want significant raises so that when the show is over, and they’re typecast or work is harder to find, they’re in good shape. Similar situations have happened with shows like “Friends” and “Mad About You” where the actors negotiated together and wound up winning large sums. But the “Modern Family” cast is invoking an unusual law that prevents a company from tying up a performer for more than seven years. For some reason, all of their contracts do just that.

“Modern Family” is ABC’s jewel in the crown right now, with lots of prestige and awards. I’m surprised they let this go so far and become so public.