diff --git a/R/column_spec.R b/R/column_spec.R
index 755c57d..eede10b 100644
--- a/R/column_spec.R
+++ b/R/column_spec.R
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@
   }
 
   if (!is.null(background)) {
-    background <- sprintf("\\\\columncolor{%s}", background)
+    background <- paste0("\\\\columncolor", latex_color(background))
   }
 
   latex_array_options <- c("\\\\bfseries", "\\\\em", "\\\\ttfamily")[