diff --git a/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/CordovaResourceApi.java b/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/CordovaResourceApi.java
index ebf88016..cb857441 100644
--- a/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/CordovaResourceApi.java
+++ b/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/CordovaResourceApi.java
@@ -156,9 +156,24 @@ public class CordovaResourceApi {
      * @throws Throws an InvalidArgumentException for relative URIs. Relative URIs should be
      *     resolved before being passed into this function.
      * @throws Throws an IOException if the URI cannot be opened.
+     * @throws Throws an IllegalStateException if called on a foreground thread.
      */
     public OpenForReadResult openForRead(Uri uri) throws IOException {
-        assertBackgroundThread();
+        return openForRead(uri, false);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Opens a stream to the givne URI, also providing the MIME type & length.
+     * @return Never returns null.
+     * @throws Throws an InvalidArgumentException for relative URIs. Relative URIs should be
+     *     resolved before being passed into this function.
+     * @throws Throws an IOException if the URI cannot be opened.
+     * @throws Throws an IllegalStateException if called on a foreground thread and skipThreadCheck is false.
+     */
+    public OpenForReadResult openForRead(Uri uri, boolean skipThreadCheck) throws IOException {
+        if (!skipThreadCheck) {
+            assertBackgroundThread();
+        }
         switch (getUriType(uri)) {
             case URI_TYPE_FILE: {
                 FileInputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(uri.getPath());
diff --git a/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/IceCreamCordovaWebViewClient.java b/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/IceCreamCordovaWebViewClient.java
index 519a8ff2..f1fcbf0b 100644
--- a/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/IceCreamCordovaWebViewClient.java
+++ b/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/IceCreamCordovaWebViewClient.java
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ public class IceCreamCordovaWebViewClient extends CordovaWebViewClient {
             Uri remappedUri = resourceApi.remapUri(origUri);
             
             if (!origUri.equals(remappedUri) || needsSpecialsInAssetUrlFix(origUri)) {
-                OpenForReadResult result = resourceApi.openForRead(remappedUri);
+                OpenForReadResult result = resourceApi.openForRead(remappedUri, true);
                 return new WebResourceResponse(result.mimeType, "UTF-8", result.inputStream);
             }
             // If we don't need to special-case the request, let the browser load it.