Simon Cowell Sued For Allegedly Humiliating Britain's Got Talent Contestant

Simon Cowell's harsh criticism as a judge on Britain's Got Talent has landed him in the middle of a legal battle. Former contestant, Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai, is suing Cowell and the show for $3.8 million ... claiming that she was humiliated and degraded during her appearance.

Czikai, who appeared on the UK version back in May 2009, says that the show is "guilty of disability discrimination" because certain adjustments weren't made for her during her appearance ... including microphone levels and background levels not being adjusted.

In a statement, Czikai, a former nurse, says:

"This program makes a select number of rich people very, very rich on the backs of the ordinary man and woman in the street through exploitation, humiliation, degradation and a re-emergence of modern-day barbarism with all its inherent cruelty."

She also claims that she suffers from cervical spine neuritis, which causes head and shoulder pain ... at times, affecting her singing abilities.

As for the judges, including Simon ... Czikai accuses them of "exploitation, humiliation, degradation and barbarism."

If you can't take the heat ...