During its initial airing, much of this program was interrupted by TV news coverage of a raid on Washington D.C.'s District Building by Hanafi Muslims demanding the release of several Hanafi prisoners held in the building and the withdrawal of the film "Muhammad, Messenger of God," which they considered blasphemous. Under the leadership of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis (born Ernest McGee, 1922 - 2003), they took 134 hostages and killed two people, the latter including TV journalist Maurice Williams, who happened upon the scene by accident.