Klemen Slakonja, Slovenia's entrant at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, has removed a segment of his video in which he impersonated all Eurovision winners since 2000 after his portrayal of Estonian singer Dave Benton sparked controversy for his wearing what is seen by some as offensive blackface.

Slakonja, a well-known actor and impersonator, released the Eurovision Winners video after winning the national selection on 1 February. He used dark makeup to imitate Benton alongside Tanel Padar, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia in 2001 with the song Everybody.

The video sparked an immediate controversy with some Eurovision fans calling on the European Broadcasting Union to disqualify the Slovenian entrant from the competition over blackface, a style of makeup historically worn to mock or ridicule Black people.

Responding in a post on his Instagram profile, Slakonja says he is well aware of the gravity of the issue, and does not support blackface in any way.

"I am truly sorry if I have hurt anyone's feelings," he says, adding that the sole purpose of his impersonating project was to honour all the winners and show his love for the Eurovision Song Contest.

"To avoid any future misunderstandings, I decided to leave out the segment in which I impersonated Mr. Dave Benton and Mr. Tanel Padar's winning performance for Estonia in 2001," he says.

Explaining his decision to use a dark makeup, he says he wanted to impersonate every winner of this millennium and knowing that Benton is the first and only Black person to have won the competition, he faced a difficult challenge.

"How could I approach this respectfully without offending anyone? Should I perform without makeup, wearing only his clothes? Portray only his white stage partner, Mr. Tanel Padar? Or skip Estonia's winning performance altogether?

"After careful consideration, I felt the most sincere, and authentic choice was to apply darker makeup. I was relieved that my good intentions were recognized by Mr. Benton himself," he says.

A day after Slakonja released his video, Benton told The Euro Trip that he took no offence from Slakonja's imitation. "He parodied all of the winners perfectly, including me," he said.

He added: "To my professional knowledge, Klemen is a very talented performer, singer, and artist. If he would have impersonated me with a white person's face, it would have never been correct. People have to understand that painting an offensive blackface is different from using dark-coloured makeup."