diff --git a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/lib/publicApi/model/mergeModel.ts b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/lib/publicApi/model/mergeModel.ts
index 2a6621fa30f..bb499451ad1 100644
--- a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/lib/publicApi/model/mergeModel.ts
+++ b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/lib/publicApi/model/mergeModel.ts
@@ -343,6 +343,7 @@ function applyDefaultFormat(
     applyDefaultFormatOption: 'mergeAll' | 'keepSourceEmphasisFormat'
 ) {
     group.blocks.forEach(block => {
+        mergeBlockFormat(applyDefaultFormatOption, block);
         switch (block.blockType) {
             case 'BlockGroup':
                 if (block.blockGroupType == 'ListItem') {
@@ -384,6 +385,12 @@ function applyDefaultFormat(
     });
 }
 
+function mergeBlockFormat(applyDefaultFormatOption: string, block: ContentModelBlock) {
+    if (applyDefaultFormatOption == 'keepSourceEmphasisFormat' && block.format.backgroundColor) {
+        delete block.format.backgroundColor;
+    }
+}
+
 function mergeSegmentFormat(
     applyDefaultFormatOption: 'mergeAll' | 'keepSourceEmphasisFormat',
     targetformat: ContentModelSegmentFormat,
diff --git a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/test/publicApi/model/mergeModelTest.ts b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/test/publicApi/model/mergeModelTest.ts
index 0015f4caaf3..4cde086cbb4 100644
--- a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/test/publicApi/model/mergeModelTest.ts
+++ b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-core/test/publicApi/model/mergeModelTest.ts
@@ -1784,6 +1784,80 @@ describe('mergeModel', () => {
         });
     });
 
+    it('Merge with keepSourceEmphasisFormat and remove background color of model', () => {
+        const MockedFormat = {
+            formatName: 'mocked',
+        } as any;
+        const majorModel = createContentModelDocument(MockedFormat);
+        const sourceModel: ContentModelDocument = {
+            blockGroupType: 'Document',
+            blocks: [
+                {
+                    blockType: 'Paragraph',
+                    segments: [
+                        {
+                            segmentType: 'Text',
+                            text: 'test',
+                            format: {
+                                formatName: 'ToBeRemoved',
+                                fontWeight: 'sourceFontWeight',
+                                italic: true,
+                                underline: true,
+                            } as any,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                    format: {
+                        backgroundColor: 'ToBeRemoved',
+                    },
+                },
+            ],
+        };
+        const para1 = createParagraph();
+        const marker = createSelectionMarker();
+
+        para1.segments.push(marker);
+        majorModel.blocks.push(para1);
+
+        const result = mergeModel(
+            majorModel,
+            sourceModel,
+            { newEntities: [], deletedEntities: [], newImages: [] },
+            {
+                mergeFormat: 'keepSourceEmphasisFormat',
+            }
+        );
+
+        const paragraph: ContentModelParagraph = {
+            blockType: 'Paragraph',
+            segments: [
+                {
+                    segmentType: 'Text',
+                    text: 'test',
+                    format: {
+                        formatName: 'mocked',
+                        fontWeight: 'sourceFontWeight',
+                        italic: true,
+                        underline: true,
+                    } as any,
+                },
+                marker,
+            ],
+            format: {},
+        };
+
+        expect(majorModel).toEqual({
+            blockGroupType: 'Document',
+            blocks: [paragraph],
+            format: MockedFormat,
+        });
+        expect(result).toEqual({
+            marker,
+            paragraph,
+            path: [majorModel],
+            tableContext: undefined,
+        });
+    });
+
     it('Merge model with List Item with default format, keep the source bold, italic and underline', () => {
         const MockedFormat = {
             formatName: 'mocked',
diff --git a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-types/lib/format/ContentModelListItemFormat.ts b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-types/lib/format/ContentModelListItemFormat.ts
index 8fdcd75c06d..f2d7b550b62 100644
--- a/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-types/lib/format/ContentModelListItemFormat.ts
+++ b/packages-content-model/roosterjs-content-model-types/lib/format/ContentModelListItemFormat.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import type { BackgroundColorFormat } from './formatParts/BackgroundColorFormat';
 import type { DirectionFormat } from './formatParts/DirectionFormat';
 import type { LineHeightFormat } from './formatParts/LineHeightFormat';
 import type { ListStyleFormat } from './formatParts/ListStyleFormat';
@@ -15,4 +16,5 @@ export type ContentModelListItemFormat = DirectionFormat &
     PaddingFormat &
     TextAlignFormat &
     ListStyleFormat &
-    TextIndentFormat;
+    TextIndentFormat &
+    BackgroundColorFormat;