A French DJ took his campaign for a competition too far when he released a photo of himself donning blackface and calling himself “Music’s Slave.”

DJ Jay Style, who is originally from Switzerland, posted a photo showing himself covered in black paint encouraging fans to vote for him in DJ Mag’s Top 100 poll. Along with the photo, he wrote “I’m A Music’s Slave & I Love It,” EDM Sauce reported on Wednesday.

As with other celebrities who have caused media firestorms for donning “blackface,” people aren’t too happy with DJ Jay Style, prompting him to release an apology.

“It’s not naïve or racist,” he wrote on Twitter. “I think it’s a strong image with a message behind. You’ve to [sic] read between lines.”

“I’ve decided to use the word ‘slave’ because since 30 years I’m living only for music, I’ve to sacrifice a lot of personal things and cross ordeal to do that,” he continued.” “That’s the message behind the pic.”

Jay Style went on to apologize to “the black community” who he “never wanted to offense” [sic]. He admitted that he read up on African American history but “in France, it’s not the same context and we’ve no trouble with that part of history.”

He also asked in his apology if he would “have some troubles with women’s movement or army” if he was painted as a girl or a warrior.

On Sunday, days before the blackface incident, Styles shared a photo of himself dressed as a clown to promote to competition with a caption reading, “Because I’m Happy.”

The DJ is not the first person under fire for using blackface publically. Actress Julianne Hough famously was lambasted for donning blackface for a Halloween costume last year.

“It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize," Hough tweeted.

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