Cheryl Cole is suing the X Factor USA for $2.3 million (£1.4 million), according to reports.
Deadline says that the Girls Aloud singer has filed the lawsuit against Blue Orbit Production for the salary she is owed after she was dropped from the show in May of this year. Cole is reported to have had a pay-or-play contract for two seasons of show, which means she would be compensated even if she was released from her contract.
It is claimed that, after she received $1.8 million (£1.1 million) for the first season of the show, she has filed a complain in Los Angeles Superior Court asking for the $2 million (£1. 25 million) fee she would have been paid for the second season, in addition to further damages to cover living expenses as well as wardrobe and housing costs.
Reports first started circulating in May last year that Cole had been sacked from the show, with US TV network Fox later confirming that she had been replaced by Pussycat Dolls singer Nichole Scherzinger. Reasons for her departure varied from viewers finding her accent hard to understand to claims that she had offended Fox executives by snubbing her invite to the Grammy Awards and eating digestive biscuits in her hotel room instead.
Cole, who recently re-united with her Girls Aloud bandmates to celebrate their 10th anniversary and plan a series of comeback shows, revealed the expletive-laden text she sent to X Factor boss Simon Cowell after she was sacked from the show. She wrote: “Fuck you. Fuck Britain’s Got Talent. Fuck the orange and purple outfit. Fuck big hair. Fuck the UK X Factor. Fuck you all. I hate you. I understand you’re a businessman, and what I’ve learned from this is that business means more to you than friendship.”