“It was really controversial,” Gordon-Levitt told BuzzFeed News during a recent phone interview. “Half of the community on our site said we shouldn't do this, we shouldn't be making entertainment out of something so serious. The other half felt more the way I did, which is that television can be something more than simple entertainment. Television can become part of a culture's conversation and have something worthwhile to contribute to that.”

In the end, that latter half won out. Stories from Hit Record users began pouring in around July 2014 — almost a full year before the Emanuel AME church shooting rocked the country. But that headline-grabbing attack only propelled Gordon-Levitt in his effort to get the episode out. “For me, personally … when there is a tragedy, when there is a problem, I feel like the point is to talk about it,” he said. “Those problems won't get solved by not talking. I'm not the one who is able to solve those problems, because I'm not a legislator, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not any of those things — what I am is [someone who makes] a TV show. And I feel like what I can contribute is stimulating a conversation and showing an example of how people who have different points of view can come together and respect one another and exchange ideas and collaborate and make something together. So to me, that's all the more reason to do it in the midst of these tragedies.”