diff --git a/src_c/font.c b/src_c/font.c
index 3758825d1f..daaf97ff55 100644
--- a/src_c/font.c
+++ b/src_c/font.c
@@ -215,9 +215,12 @@ font_set_linesize(PyObject *self, PyObject *arg)
 #if SDL_TTF_VERSION_ATLEAST(2, 24, 0)
     TTF_Font *font = PyFont_AsFont(self);
     int linesize = PyLong_AsLong(arg);
-    if (linesize < 0 || PyErr_Occurred()) {
+    if (PyErr_Occurred())
+        return NULL;
+
+    if (linesize < 0)
         return RAISE(PyExc_ValueError, "linesize must be >= 0");
-    }
+
     TTF_SetFontLineSkip(font, linesize);
 
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
diff --git a/test/font_test.py b/test/font_test.py
index cb613d494d..ef8762b3fc 100644
--- a/test/font_test.py
+++ b/test/font_test.py
@@ -901,7 +901,6 @@ def test_font_method_should_raise_exception_after_quit(self):
                 ("get_descent", ()),
                 ("get_ascent", ()),
                 ("get_linesize", ()),
-                ("set_linesize", (2,)),
                 ("get_bold", ()),
                 ("set_bold", (True,)),
                 ("get_italic", ()),
@@ -919,6 +918,11 @@ def test_font_method_should_raise_exception_after_quit(self):
             skip_methods = set()
             version = pygame.font.get_sdl_ttf_version()
             if version >= (2, 0, 18):
+                if version >= (2, 24, 0):
+                    methods.append(("set_linesize", (2,)))
+                else:
+                    skip_methods.add("set_linesize")
+
                 methods.append(("get_point_size", ()))
                 methods.append(("set_point_size", (34,)))
             else: