diff --git a/core/core.el b/core/core.el
index c8cfb0495..6ac54ac22 100644
--- a/core/core.el
+++ b/core/core.el
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ to least)."
                          "run 'doom sync' on the command line to repair it"))
          ;; Otherwise, something inside the autoloads file is triggering this
          ;; error; forward it!
-         (apply #'doom-autoload-error e))))
+         (signal 'doom-autoload-error e))))
 
     ;; Load shell environment, optionally generated from 'doom env'. No need
     ;; to do so if we're in terminal Emacs, where Emacs correctly inherits