Fox insiders hit back after a new miniseries claimed Gretchen Carlson was solely responsible for the ousting of disgraced CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016

Fox insiders have hit back after a new miniseries claimed that Gretchen Carlson was solely responsible for the ousting of disgraced CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016.

The Loudest Voice, which stars Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe, focuses entirely on ‘opportunistic’ Carlson with a showrunner describing other accounts of the scandal that describe the contribution of multiple women, including Megyn Kelly, as ‘a lie’ in an interview with an industry publication last week.

But speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, an insider claimed former Fox News anchor Carlson’s version of events is based entirely ‘on her own opinion because she was gone before other women came forward.’

The source said: ‘She is telling a story to make herself look like a hero and take credit for the courage other brave women showed risking their careers and reputations by coming forward and sharing their stories of misconduct with investigators.’

Fox insiders have hit back after a new miniseries claimed that Gretchen Carlson was solely responsible for the ousting of disgraced CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016

The Loudest Voice focuses entirely on ‘opportunistic’ Carlson with a show runner describing other accounts of the scandal that reference the input of multiple women, including Megyn Kelly, as ‘a lie’ in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter (l to r: Sienna Miller as Elizbaeth Ailes, Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes and Naomi Watts as Gretchen Carlson)

The source continued: ‘The truth is documented in two books written and approved by Fox – [meteorologist] Janice Dean’s and Megyn Kelly’s.

‘The fact that Ailes was gone 48 hours after Megyn spoke is backed by the facts and proves Gretchen is being opportunistic.

‘The women of Fox News never got any credit for sticking their necks out and risking their livelihoods from Gretchen Carlson.’

Ailes, who died at his Palm Beach, Florida, home in May 2017, resigned from his dual role as Chairman and CEO of Fox News in July 2016 after a series of women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment.

Carlson, 52,  was the first – filing a lawsuit on July 6, 2016 claiming sexual harassment and accusing him of firing her after she rejected his advances.

Three days later, the author of a 2014 biography of Ailes that included the claim that the Fox CEO had offered a producer a raise in exchange for sex in the 1980s, reported accounts of sexual harassment from six other women.

Gabriel Sherman’s book, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News – and Divided a Country, is now the basis for the miniseries.

Although Ailes initially held on, the predatory boss was finally ousted after Kelly and Dean, among others, came forward with harassment allegations of their own on July 19.

In her November 2016 book, Settle For More, Kelly detailed Ailes’ transgressions – including how he would make sexual remarks during meetings and how he once attempted to kiss her during a one-on-one meeting.

Ailes was finally ousted after Megyn Kelly (right) and Janice Dean (left) , among others, came forward with harassment allegations of their own on July 19, 2016. ‘The women of Fox News never got any credit for sticking their necks out and risking their livelihoods from Gretchen Carlson’, a Fox insider told DailyMail.com

Other women to come forward with harassment allegations included political analyst Andrea Tantaros and Shelly Ross who was allegedly offered a ‘sexual alliance’ by Ailes.

The episode has now been turned into a film called Fair and Balanced, starring Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman, and miniseries The Loudest Voice.

But the differing story lines have proven controversial – with the film taking in all the women who made claims, while the miniseries focuses on Carlson and makes no mention of Kelly and others.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter last week, Loudest Voice showrunner Alex Metcalf said writers were correct to play down Kelly’s role in Ailes’ downfall and claimed it was all about Carlson.

He said: ‘I’m not trying to trash-talk the movie, but it seems to be predicated on the idea that there was this coterie of women who brought down Roger Ailes, which is a lie.

‘There was Gretchen Carlson, and that was it.’

But a source close to Kelly told DailyMail.com: ‘Megyn’s book and Janice Dean’s book both detail the facts on how they approached and convinced a group of brave individuals to stand up and tell their stories to the attorneys investigating Roger Ailes.

‘It was not the sole achievement of Gretchen Carlson. It’s a slap in the face to the courage and character of the other women to claim their narrative is false which Carlson’s team is doing.’

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter last week, Loudest Voice show runner Alex Metcalf said writers were correct to play down Kelly’s role in Ailes’ downfall and claimed it was all about Carlson. He said: ‘There was Gretchen Carlson, and that was it’

Publicists for Carlson and The Loudest Voice were approached for comment by DailyMail.com. Showtime (behind the Loudest Voice) responded,  ‘We have no comment.’

In her book, Sunny Weather, Dean claimed she and Kelly had helped build ‘an army of women’ willing to speak out about Ailes’ alleged harassment – despite the very real threat of losing their jobs.

Dean alleges that neither she nor Kelly thought Carlson had any chance of ousting Ailes alone and writes that both women began approaching their female colleagues after hearing that too few were coming forward.

Writing in Sunny Weather, she said: ‘I reached out to my female co-workers who I knew had a Roger story and asked if I could come to see them in their offices to talk.

‘One by one I told them my experiences with the boss, how even though I was risking my career I told the lawyers at Paul Weiss my uncomfortable experiences with Mr. Ailes.

‘If we all went in and shared our stories, it could make a difference in the future for women at this company and elsewhere. We could make a change somehow…

‘Some didn’t want to speak out for fear of retaliation, but some of them at great risk and peril to their careers and livelihoods risked everything and did tell their stories.’

The source added: ‘Megyn consoled and encouraged many women, some as young as 24, who had a career to lose by speaking up.’