diff --git a/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts b/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
index 9f2b81fd7b5..fbc430cfe29 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/historyProvider.ts
@@ -524,7 +524,9 @@ export class GitHistoryProvider implements SourceControlHistoryProvider, FileDec
 						revision: commit.hash,
 						category: l10n.t('remote branches'),
 						icon: new ThemeIcon('cloud'),
-						backgroundColor: `--vscode-scmGraph-historyItemRemoteRefColor`
+						backgroundColor: ref === this.currentHistoryItemRemoteRef?.id
+							? `--vscode-scmGraph-historyItemRemoteRefColor`
+							: undefined
 					});
 					break;
 				case ref.startsWith('tag: refs/tags/'):
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/scm/browser/scmHistoryViewPane.ts b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/scm/browser/scmHistoryViewPane.ts
index d8bdf1812c4..57949338fff 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/scm/browser/scmHistoryViewPane.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/scm/browser/scmHistoryViewPane.ts
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ class HistoryItemRenderer implements ICompressibleTreeRenderer<SCMHistoryItemVie
 		templateData.elementDisposables.add(autorun(reader => {
 			const labelConfig = this._badgesConfig.read(reader);
 
-			templateData.labelContainer.textContent = '';
+			templateData.labelContainer.replaceChildren();
 
 			const references = historyItem.references ?
 				historyItem.references.slice(0) : [];