How could I miss this?! Apparently, the story broke on some European media while I was abroad. From Global Voices: European Commission’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Video Blunder:

A video parodying the film Kill Bill and building on a “clash of civilizations” theme has been made by the European Commission (EC) to promote enlargement of the European Union to young adults. However, the video was pulled on March 6, 2012, after it made the rounds online and was subject to virulent accusations of racism.

From the video description:

A young Caucasian woman wearing a bright yellow outfit similar to that worn by Uma Thurman in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill stands up to each male adversary who enters the warehouse she is in. One man is clearly of Oriental [sic] origin, another seems to be either Arabic or Indian, and the last appears to be a dreadlocked kickboxer. Is this supposed to represent Europe’s opposing emerging powers? The body language of the men is aggressive until the young woman closes her eyes and multiplies herself several times, creating a circle around the fighters, who are all of a sudden docile as lambs.The clumsy symbolism of the video ends with a slogan declaring: “The more we are, the stronger we are”. Just before this statement, the circle of women viewed from above has transformed into the starred flag of the EU.

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