diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 48d03e785..dce6e713a 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 Release 1.0.2 (in development)
 ==============================
 
+* #486: Fix removal of ``!`` for all cross-reference roles.
+
+
 Release 1.0.1 (Jul 27, 2010)
 ============================
 
diff --git a/sphinx/roles.py b/sphinx/roles.py
index d3f3c67e3..bacdad5b6 100644
--- a/sphinx/roles.py
+++ b/sphinx/roles.py
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@ class XRefRole(object):
             classes = ['xref', domain, '%s-%s' % (domain, role)]
         # if the first character is a bang, don't cross-reference at all
         if text[0:1] == '!':
-            text = utils.unescape(text)
+            text = utils.unescape(text)[1:]
             if self.fix_parens:
-                text, tgt = self._fix_parens(env, False, text[1:], "")
+                text, tgt = self._fix_parens(env, False, text, "")
             innernode = self.innernodeclass(rawtext, text, classes=classes)
             return self.result_nodes(inliner.document, env, innernode,
                                      is_ref=False)