NEW ORLEANS -- The teen who spoke anonymously to WWL-TV this summer about sexually explicit texts Mike Yenni sent him in 2015, has now put his name on a statement to refute recent comments by Yenni.
Alex Daigle is a 19-year-old student at Brown University and a Jesuit High School graduate.
He spoke to WWL-TV this summer on condition of anonymity and provided the station with copies of sexually explicit text messages he exchanged with Mike Yenni in 2015, when Daigle was 17 and just out of high school and Yenni was the 38-year-old mayor of Kenner and candidate for president of Jefferson Parish.
The texts showed Yenni, now the parish president, seeking sex with the teen in explicit terms, asking to see him naked and in underwear Yenni bought for him and discussing Daigle’s parents’ concerns about their relationship.
Yenni has apologized for sending improper texts, but has downplayed them as simply “off-color.” He has refused to answer questions about Daigle’s allegations that they kissed in a mall bathroom and that the politician bought the teen designer underwear.
Daigle wrote an article published by The Tab last February that mentioned the encounter in the mall and said he was “seduced” by a powerful politician, although he acknowledged they never had sex. The article didn’t use Yenni’s real name. Yenni has now claimed the account contained “a lot of fiction” and accused the teen of writing a salacious story for a “tabloid” to win money.
The Tab is not a tabloid. It is an online news site produced by and for young people, with offices in London and New York. Its editor, Joshi Herrmann, said the teen’s article was vetted as factual, was not for any monetary prize and he called Yenni’s claims “utter nonsense.”
On Friday, Daigle broke his anonymity by giving a statement to The Tab. He stood by every word of his original article and said he resented Yenni’s claim that he wrote it to be “salacious.” He said he wrote it to “warn others of the risk of older men in power preying upon teenage boys.”
He ends his statement by saying:
“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.”
Asked to respond, Yenni’s public relations adviser, Greg Buisson, said Yenni stands by his comments.
WWL-TV has made 22 requests since mid-June for Yenni to sit down with the station and answer the teen’s specific allegations. He did not agree to do so before the station first exposed the sexting scandal on Sept. 29.
Since then, the parish council, several municipal councils, other elected officials and school and business groups have called on Yenni to step down as parish president, but he insists the scandal will not prevent him from doing the job he was elected to do.
A recall drive has collected more than 40,000 signatures to force a referendum to remove Yenni from office, but it must collect more than 91,000 signatures of registered voters by April 6. That’s more than all of the votes cast in the election when Yenni won the parish presidency.