One week after Mike Yenni, a local conservative politician from Louisiana, was outed for sexting with a 17-year-old boy, he is finally breaking his silence.
Yenni has been keeping a low profile since the scandal erupted. Until last night, that is, when he aired a commercial during the 10 p.m. newscasts on several local TV stations addressing the story.
In the commercial, Yenni apologizes for his actions and assures people he never “abused or misused my powers as a public official.” He stops just short of resigning from his post at Jefferson Parish President or coming out as gay or bisexual.
“Last summer I was old enough to know better, but I guess I was still young enough to do something stupid,” 40-year-old Yenni says. “I chose to send improper texts to a young man.”
By “improper,” of course, he means sexting with a 17-year-old Catholic school boy who he met at a senior graduation luncheon and asking the youth to take pictures of himself modeling in a pair of $75 designer underpants.
In the video, Yenni says he would not go into details about the texts out of respect for the privacy of “all parties.”
“I made a bad decision,” he continues. “I regret my actions. I apologize to the families involved, and anyone who I embarrassed, especially my own family and the people of Jefferson.”
He goes on to say he will work extra hard “every day to prove that good people can rise from a bad decision.”
“I’m certainly not afraid of the future,” Yenni promises, “because I’m smart enough to never repeat the past.”
Watch Yenni’s response below:
Double standards