The Florida school teacher accused of hosting an alt-right podcast has denied the claims, saying the comments made on her platform should be interpreted as political satire.
Dayanna Volitich, a 25-year-old social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School, was removed from the classroom last week after a Huffington Post report outed her as the voice behind a white nationalist podcast called “Unapologetic.” The report accused Volitich, aka “Tiana Dalichov,” of espousing her racist views on social media and even in the classroom.
Local station News Channel 8 obtained a statement released on Volitich’s behalf, saying the allegations are simply untrue.
“None of the statements released about my being a white nationalist or white supremacist have any truth to them, nor are my political beliefs injected into my teaching of social studies curriculum,” it read. “While operating under the Russian pseudonym ‘Tiana Dalichov’ on social media and the Unapologetic Podcast, I employed political satire and exaggeration, mainly to the end of attracting listeners and followers, and generating conversation about the content discussed between myself and my guests.”
“The views ‘Tiana Dalichov’ espouses do not pervade my professional career,” it added.
According to the station, faculty at Crystal River Middle met Monday morning before school to discuss the situation. Volitich is sill listed as a member of the school’s social studies staff, but will remain out of the classroom pending an investigation.
In a podcast on Feb. 26, Volitich sided with a caller who spoke out against diversity in schools and challenged the idea that “a kid from Nigeria and a kid who came from Sweden are supposed to learn exactly the same” and are equally intelligent. The school teacher is alleged to have done everything from suggesting Muslims be wiped from the earth to openly supporting known racists, like former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.
In a tweet, Volitich even griped about having to read about institutional racism, calling it “bull—-.”
“It isn’t supremacist or hateful to prefer your own people over others,” she wrote in another tweet.
“Tiana Dalichov’s” Twitter account conveniently went dark after HuffPost made inquiries into her white nationalist ties. She also removed the website for her podcast.
