Behind the mic: Student interviewer banned

Photo courtesy of Eden Joven

Senior Eden Joven “EJ” Madriaga (left) interviews senior Eric Wang (right). DISCLAIMER: Student in black is unrelated to the article. Any similarities or connections are pure coincidence.

You open up your Instagram feed to @pinoyej’s newest reel; however instead of the familiar red brick wall in the distance, you see him in the backyard of his house explaining he is not able to film any more interviews at school. With no reasoning as to why, you are left wondering. 

Senior Eden Joven “EJ” Madriaga’s on-campus interviewing content on social media was banned from continuing on Oct. 17 after one of his videos sparked a conflict between two students. The video featured a student who introduced himself as affiliated to one gang, and opposed to another. When posted, the video reached a member of the opposing gang, causing enragement and a physical fight to break out between the two before school began, according to the Grade Level Coordinators (GLCs).

After the GLCs were notified of the situation, they decided how Madriaga should continue with his content. While most of the GLCs permitted him to continue, provided he adhered to stricter censorship guidelines, his GLC ultimately forbade him from continuing to film content at school.

“I was like, there’s no way, because apparently I got in trouble for [my content] twice; both times it involved the same kid—but I only heard about it once,” Madriaga said. “[It felt kind of unfair], but it is what it is.”

Madriaga’s interviewing content garnered him over 6000 followers on his Instagram account, @pinoyej, and 3000 followers on his TikTok account, @pinoyejscloset, with his most viral video on TikTok accumulating over 1.8 million views. His on-campus interviews, in particular, played a pivotal role in his account’s growth.

The moment the lunch bell rang, Madriaga would bring out his big microphone and roam the campus, looking for people to interview for his short clips. These interviews would feature a mix of students and sometimes staff members, each invited to chat about anything from how they were doing to what they are passionate about. These videos quickly reached a wide audience, spreading Walnut’s name across social media.

“I feel he took [Walnut out] of the unknown schools and made it a little more popular–like people at Diamond Bar heard about [the videos], West Covina and just different schools,” Madriaga’s friend, senior Joseph Abdul Nour said. 

Though Madriaga does not expect the ban from his GLC to be lifted anytime soon, he plans on continuing his content elsewhere at popular places such as Seaside Donuts Bakery, Irvine Spectrum and Ontario Mills. There, he sees it as an opportunity to ask more diverse questions and meet a wider range of people. 

“I like hearing what everyone has to say, and learning from their perspectives,” Madriaga said. “When interviewing, I feel invested in the conversation with the person, and it’s cool to build a relationship with someone I have never spoken to before.”

This situation taught Madriaga valuable lessons in censorship and the importance of being careful with what he posts online, insights he plans on carrying over with his future videos. Interviewing is what helped him develop his confidence and public speaking skills and he hopes others feel inspired to go outside of their comfort zone as well.

“[With my videos], I would like to encourage people to be more sociable because many people stick to their own little groups and don’t really socialize outside of that,” Madriaga said. “I was like that before [too], so interviewing random people was and sometimes still is scary to me.”