The Catholic school boy who sexted with Republican Mike Yenni of Louisiana is sticking by his story, despite the 40-year-old lawmaker’s recent attempts at discrediting him.
Related: Republican Lawmaker Finally Talks About Sexting With Catholic School Boy, Insists He’s Not Gay
Alex Daigle originally wrote about his affair with Yenni in an article titled I was seduced by a politician published by the blog The Tab earlier this year.
In the article, Daigle does not mention Yenni by name. Instead he refers to him as “Kevin.” He writes about how he met Yenni, er, Kevin at his high school graduation lunch and that the two began sexting back and forth. Diagle was 17 at the time; Yenni was 38. At one point, they met up at a mall bathroom where Yenni allegedly gave him a pair of sexy $75 underpants and a kiss on the lips.
Related: Teen’s Story About Hooking Up With Married Politician Sounds Awfully Like Mike Yenni
After being identified as the politician in the story, Yenni called the article “tabloid” material, adding that “there are a lot of elements of that story that I truly believe are certainly fictional.” He admitted to sending “inappropriate texts,” but refused to elaborate on or admit to anything beyond that.
Now, Daigle, 19 and studying at Brown University, is calling his bluff, accusing Yenni of being a predator and of attacking his integrity.
“The article was in no way meant to be a personal attack,” he said in a recent statement published by The Tab, “but rather an example of dangerous, predatory behaviors within our community that might be overlooked without an active voice making them heard.”
He added that he originally wanted to write the article to “warn others of the risk of older men in power preying upon teenage boys.”
Related: Did Catholic School Where Mike Yenni Met Teen Boyfriend Know About His Lust For Underagers?
The Tab, too, is sticking by the story.
“The Tab is 100 percent confident that the story we published is right,” Editor-in-Chief Joshi Herrmann tells The Times-Picayune. “We don’t publish fiction, and Mike Yenni’s profession that we do publish fiction is utter, utter nonsense.”
Read Daigle’s latest statement, in full, below:
I was pursued by Mike Yenni in the summer of 2015. I stand by my February 2016 article in its entirety. It is factual. My sole intent in writing it was to warn others of the risk of older men in power preying upon teenage boys. I submitted it to a team of editors and media lawyers who considered the article for months and approved it for release. I wanted to release it much earlier than I did, but had strong opposition from my family, who wanted me to retain my privacy. It wasn’t until others beyond my control disclosed my personal information and the details of Mr Yenni’s actions to other media outlets and organizations in the New Orleans area that I authorized the release of the article. I never gave permission to anyone else to share my story, and I could not allow others to use me for their own personal gain, especially without my input being made clear.
“I resent the claim that my article was written with the intent to be ‘salacious.’ The article was in no way meant to be a personal attack, but rather an example of dangerous, predatory behaviors within our community that might be overlooked without an active voice making them heard. Even though others released my name and details about my own private life, I chose not to name Mr Yenni in the original article. Now, Mr Yenni has chosen to deny the facts rather than to admit to his actions, presumably in an effort to protect his own image, and, in the process, has chosen to attack my integrity. I choose to no longer be victimized by Mr Yenni.
Related: A Brief History Of Antigay Politicians Caught Doing Very Gay Things In Public Restrooms
truckproductions
while I think this story has merit due to the politicians political leanings and the hypocrisy it exposes, the gay guy seems ridiculous.. a predator “preying on teen boys”?? give me a break. We’ve all been that age and know perfectly well how ruled by sexual impulses we all were. He wasn’t a victim I’m sure he was a willing participant. If the kid were 12 yeah it’d be an issue but 17?? He is old enough to know his own sexual impulses
Aunt Sharon
Any relation to fan favorite Steven Daigle, who’s from Opelousas?
Josh447
I’ve always had this sense that Yenni blew the kid off after a while and this is more of a “lovers revenge”story more than anything else.
Josh447
@truckproductions: Yup.
oilburner
@truckproductions: exactly
oilburner
Dude got himself a $75.00 pair of panties and after accepting them he felt preyed upon, victimized and whatever else. I wonder if he felt any of this crap when he was giving out his number , texting, kissing and being gifted expensive underwear. I’ve heard enough of this shit story. Can we move on to a much more interesting and exciting new scandal.
jr111585
While a part of me totally believes the kid as far as Mike seducing him and kissing him and shit, there is just something about these two that comes off sketchy. And I am glad I’m not the only one who shares the same sentiments.
ChrisK
Yenni deserves everything he got but no one was taken advantage of. If I was this guy I would’ve blackmailed him. What’s your privacy worth to you Yenni?
rbernard
The whole situation is a sad one and wrong on many levels. I grew up in this parish. This area has one of the largest concentrations of Catholics in the United States. It also has the highest birthrate in the USA. If you are white, you are likely are Republican. This area also has some of the most gut wrenching emotional religious based homophobia that you will ever encounter.
For family reasons, I just retired here after spending 33 years from doing tech in San Francisco. If you want to rile up the locals in Jefferson Parish, have a 40 year old man in a powerful position, pester, sext, and stalk your 17 year old son for oral pleasure and three ways with other younglings.
My issue with Mike Yenni is he should have come out a long time ago and got the hell away from here. Now he is acting out, it is a tragedy got his family, he is letting himself be victimized, and in the process, giving the rest of us a bad name.
radiooutmike
I am not about to put down other peoples possible interpretations of this story, especially about Mr. Daigle’s intent.
But I will say this, there would be a lot more outrage from the general public if this was a 17 year old girl who received $75 of lingerie from Mr. Yenni with all other things being equal.
We have yet another story of a God-fearing Christian who ‘stumbles’ because he can’t deal with his own sexuality and blames it on a young nymph who was out to get him. Certainly, Yenni coming out and being himself would be ideal. But many people may sublimate whatever desires they may have for other reasons as well. If you want to not deal with your own sexuality and do the heteronormative-thing, it will bite you in the ass. But the least you should be able to is put up with your own misery and not cheat on your spouse.
Terrycloth
The boys letter although interesting seems to me written by a lawyer or someone other than the boy himself. Just the wording and sentence structure seems odd coming from a 17 year old. Maybe he actually wrote it…I believe he had help..
ChrisK
@radiooutmike: Yeah, Yenni wanted the cake (heteronormitive priveledge) and ice cream (dirty queer sex) as well.
Brian
Mike Yenni is entitled to be married to a woman. Not every guy who dips his toes in the loins of masculinity has to succumb to gay identity politics, you know.
Daigle should stop complaining and think of it as a brush with fame instead. Learn to avoid predators in future.
DennisBTR
The political and hypocrisy implications aside, Mr. Daigle appears to be a drama queen. A few things come to mind. First, Mr. Daigle is obviously no idiot. He graduated from one of the very best high schools in Louisiana and now goes to Brown University. There is no way he was misled or taken advantage of. For whatever reason, (attention, getting gifts, prospect of a job, etc., etc.) Mr. Daigle was a willing participant in all of the text exchanges and the meeting to accept some underwear. Mr. Daigle could have simply blocked Mr. Yenni or just not respond to to them. Instead he continued the dialogue until he decided to make it public. I suspect that Mr. Daigle has been flirted with before and he dealt with it without all the drama.
Mr. Daigle was well aware of what was going on and was mature enough to know how to simply cut off contact if he did not wish to continue the contact with Mr. Yenni. Instead he decided to go public by writing an article.
I am no way defending Mr. Yenni, but there is no victim, prey or predator here. Mr. Daigle got his fifteen minutes of fame. Time to move on.
frankcar1965
@Terrycloth: Surely you jest, he is at Brown University, does that really surprise you? Not too many idiots off the street get to go there and it sounds like he can actually write a coherent sentence. You probably used to the FB and Twitter crowd who are not known for their writing discourse.
frankcar1965
Fuck your comments policy.
surreal33
This is not new or shocking. Mike Yenni, is not the first closeted, redneck, pervert, liar nor will he be the last. Alex Daigle, is stereotypical, scorned queen. The only real mystery here is why people are still titillated by banal smut?
Aromaeus
It’s pretty easy to get enamored by older men especially when your experience with any kind of same-sex experience is extremely limited. I hooked up with an older man when I was still a teen and at the time I was perfectly fine with it but now that I’m a bit older I know that if I had someone my own age around that time to work through things I would have never given said older gentlemen the time of day. Mr. Yenni was old enough to be this young man’s father and had quite a bit of power over him as a politician, there is absolutely no blame to be put on Daigle in my opinion.
CaliKyle
@Josh447: You nailed it. Couldnt agree more re: Daigle’s motive.
Kangol
Yenni’s a creep. A few years ago he was sexting others guys using government property in the past, and got slapped on the wrist for it. Clearly he lacks impulse control and a moral compass, respect for his job, voters and his wife, and a conscience. Glad that Daigle’s no pushover,. Praying ain’t gonna make that gay go away, Yenni. You’ll get caught up another scandal soon enough, since his fetish, buying a teenager underwear and asking him to model it and then share some kisses, seems pretty specific and wifey can’t satisfy it.
Captain Obvious
@oilburner: Should’ve got him some Huggies for all the crying he’s doing. This is why all these twink chasers should really find men and not little boys to sleep with.
oilburner
@Captain Obvious: I couldn’t agree with you more.
Dave084
At 17 years old this guy was not only of legal age in most states but he knew fully well what he was doing. Truth be told there was probably more than receiving underwear and a kiss in that bathroom. Yenni is obviously a hypocrite and huge closet case but I don’t see him as a “predator”. He couldn’t have been sexting with the guy if there had not been a phone number passed in the first place. There was at least some mutual interest in the beginning.
radiooutmike
@Brian: Certainly, Yenni can marry who he wants.
But if he going to dip his foot in the pool of masculine loins… He should probably do it before he gets married. Or at the least, do it with someone who is legally an adult.
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