diff -u /tmp/viper/viper-cmd.el.bak /tmp/viper/viper-cmd.el
--- /tmp/viper/viper-cmd.el.bak	2023-02-12 17:45:05.775987386 +0000
+++ /tmp/viper/viper-cmd.el	2023-02-12 17:06:44.589089504 +0000
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@
        ))
 
   ;; minibuffer faces
-  (if (viper-has-face-support-p)
+  (if (and (viper-has-face-support-p) (not (and (boundp 'viper-disable-face-support) viper-disable-face-support)))
       (setq viper-minibuffer-current-face
 	    (cond ((eq state 'emacs-state) viper-minibuffer-emacs-face)
 		  ((eq state 'vi-state) viper-minibuffer-vi-face)

Diff finished.  Sun Feb 12 17:45:44 2023