Madonna Ripped for Calling Out Fan in Wheelchair for Sitting at Concert

This is NOT how Madonna should express herself -- she's getting scorched for this jaw-dropping blunder, when she stopped her show to call out a front-row fan for sitting through her show, only to learn they're in a wheelchair.

The clip of Madonna's cringe moment is from last month in Vancouver but is just now making the rounds ... and folks are slamming her -- not so much for the mistake -- but for her nonchalant reaction once she figured it out.

Between songs, Madge looked into the audience, locked eyes with the seated fan and said, "What are ya doing sitting down?"

When public shaming didn't make the fan get up, Madonna walked over for a closer look ... which is when her heart must've sank, because she quickly said, "Oh, ok ... politically incorrect. Sorry about that. I'm glad you're here."

The backlash ranges from humorous to pure outrage -- one person wrote, "I feel like she should have refunded that person's ticket" ... while another said, "Maam, there are 100 reasons why someone might sit- and all of them are valid"

While Madonna admitted her mistake on the spot, some folks aren't trying to hear it ... telling her, "'politically incorrect' no girl that was just MEAN 😭😭"

The only positive for the iconic signer ... it's the kinda mistake that might make people forget about the image of her falling off a chair last month during her tour stop in Seattle.

In her defense, Madonna clearly didn't have any ill intent, but at 65, she's been at this a while ... so, it's surprising she would make such a mistake. The woman's been touring for more than 4 decades, after all.