diff --git a/nbconvert/tests/test_nbconvertapp.py b/nbconvert/tests/test_nbconvertapp.py
index c6b6b5ef4..f01466a34 100644
--- a/nbconvert/tests/test_nbconvertapp.py
+++ b/nbconvert/tests/test_nbconvertapp.py
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ def test_no_input(self):
                     '<span class="o">=</span> '
                     '<span class="n">symbols</span>'
                     '<span class="p">(</span>'
-                    '<span class="s1">&#39;x y z&#39;</span>'
+                    '<span class="s1">\'x y z\'</span>'
                     '<span class="p">)</span>'
                 ) not in text
             self.nbconvert("notebook1.ipynb --log-level 0 --to html")
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ def test_no_input(self):
                     '<span class="o">=</span> '
                     '<span class="n">symbols</span>'
                     '<span class="p">(</span>'
-                    '<span class="s1">&#39;x y z&#39;</span>'
+                    '<span class="s1">\'x y z\'</span>'
                     '<span class="p">)</span>'
                 ) in text2
 
diff --git a/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/base/celltags.j2 b/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/base/celltags.j2
index 7df02cfc4..622a2c661 100644
--- a/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/base/celltags.j2
+++ b/share/jupyter/nbconvert/templates/base/celltags.j2
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {%- macro celltags(cell) -%}
     {% if cell.metadata.tags | length > 0 -%}
         {% for tag in (cell.metadata.tags) -%}
-            {{ (' celltag_' ~ tag) | clean_html -}}
+            {{ (' celltag_' ~ tag) | escape_html -}}
         {%- endfor -%}
     {%- endif %}
 {%- endmacro %}