Kelly's Muslim Film Flap: Calls for Resignation

Though Police Commissioner Ray Kelly remains in hot water after news broke that the police department had been showing an anti-Muslim film to hundreds of officers, critics' calls for him to resign probably won't be fulfilled.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed calls for Kelly's resignation at a press conference Thursday, but called the commissioner's role in the film an embarrassment for his administration.

Calls from Muslim groups and other critics for the commissioner and NYPD spokesman Paul Browne to resign arose Wednesday and Thursday, after it was revealed that the commissioner had worked with filmmakers to make the film.

After originally denying the commissioner's voluntary involvement in the film, Browne revealed that Kelly had agreed to sit down to an interview with the filmmakers.

The mayor, though, is not the only supporter of Kelly. City Councilmember Robert Jackson, the City Council's only Muslim member, said Thursday that he did not believe the commissioner should step down and that he did not find the video offensive to Muslims.

The film, entitled The Third Jihad, says the goal of much of the Muslim leadership in America is to infiltrate and dominate the U.S. and shows images of car bombs, frenzied crowds and a Muslim flag flying over the White House.

After the Village Voice released the information on the film in January 2011, Brown initially denied that it had been shown to police officers, but soon after confirmed that the film had been shown to only a few officers a couple of times. Now it appears that the video had been shown on a continuous loop for more than 1,400 officers as a part of their counterterrorism training.

Bloomberg said that it still unclear as to who permitted the showing of the film.