You mean to tell me there's a lie too big for CBS to handle, and so they want nothing to do with it?
This is surely a "first."
Only because it blew up so bad that it publicly embarrassed them and they ended up in opposite legal corners from Mapes and Rather after trying to dissociate themselves from the two sources of the embarrassment. Mapes and Rather did not go quietly, putting CBS into a 'Scorched earth, back to the Fatherland,' position, which means there is no going back now.
PS, Love 'The Mikado.' Beautiful music and words, a delightful combination of blunt and delicately subtle humor. And there are few women I've encountered who bring to mind the verse "Bow! Bow! To the Daughter-in-Law elect!' Although full of superfluous modern British social commentary about the times, I greatly enjoyed the movie 'Topsy-Turvy,' which is about Gibert and Sullivan creating the show and getting it through opening night.