diff --git a/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantFunctions.hpp b/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantFunctions.hpp
index c6b64f8a..379ea9c0 100644
--- a/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantFunctions.hpp
+++ b/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantFunctions.hpp
@@ -11,15 +11,6 @@
 
 namespace ARDUINOJSON_NAMESPACE {
 
-template <typename TVisitor>
-inline typename TVisitor::result_type variantAccept(const VariantData *var,
-                                                    TVisitor &visitor) {
-  if (var != 0)
-    return var->resolve()->accept(visitor);
-  else
-    return visitor.visitNull();
-}
-
 inline const CollectionData *variantAsArray(const VariantData *var) {
   return var != 0 ? var->resolve()->asArray() : 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantRef.hpp b/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantRef.hpp
index 4ab82cd7..a31983f9 100644
--- a/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantRef.hpp
+++ b/src/ArduinoJson/Variant/VariantRef.hpp
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ class VariantRefBase : public VariantTag {
  public:
   template <typename TVisitor>
   typename TVisitor::result_type accept(TVisitor &visitor) const {
-    return variantAccept(_data, visitor);
+    if (!_data)
+      return visitor.visitNull();
+    return _data->resolve()->accept(visitor);
   }
 
   FORCE_INLINE bool isNull() const {