--- pygame/src/font.c	2010-07-01 16:46:25.355481911 +0200
+++ pygame/src/font.c.new	2010-07-01 16:48:59.936197107 +0200
@@ -286,11 +286,20 @@
     if (bg_rgba_obj)
     {
         if (!RGBAFromColorObj (bg_rgba_obj, rgba))
-            return RAISE (PyExc_TypeError, "Invalid background RGBA argument");
-        backg.r = rgba[0];
-        backg.g = rgba[1];
-        backg.b = rgba[2];
-        backg.unused = 0;
+        {
+            bg_rgba_obj = NULL;
+            backg.r = 0;
+            backg.g = 0;
+            backg.b = 0;
+            backg.unused = 0;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            backg.r = rgba[0];
+            backg.g = rgba[1];
+            backg.b = rgba[2];
+            backg.unused = 0;
+        }
     }
     else
     {