TV station sends little person to Marvin Lewis press conference after he called Johnny Manziel ‘a midget’ (VIDEO)

In a move directly out of a Howard Stern playbook, days after Bengals coach Marvin Lewis called Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel “a midget,” a Cleveland television station sent a little person to Lewis’ midweek press conference.

Cleveland’s FOX 8 assigned local media personality “Lil’ John” Rinaldi to Wednesday's presser to ask Lewis questions about the Browns and Manziel, who’ll make his first NFL start this Sunday against Lewis’ Bengals.

And it's no coincidence the diminutive reporter was in the room.

“Based on the height difference on a player like Manziel how has your defensive approach changed for Sunday’s game,” Rinaldi, who is 4-foot-3, asked Lewis.

Lewis answered Rinaldi’s question directly — along with a follow-up — albeit, a little uncomfortably.

The exchange happens in the video below (at 0:43):

The Bengals coach had already apologized for the comments made on a local radio show Monday night, when he was discussing how to defend the under-6-foot rookie and said “You’ve got to go defend the offense, you don’t defend the player,” before muttering “particularly a midget,” between questions from the show’s hosts.

He seems to be a reporter/employee for Fox 8 in Cleveland @WEWS @wcpo #Bengals pic.twitter.com/OqSGIpossZ
— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) December 10, 2014

As for Wednesday’s stunt by FOX 8, Lewis responded to it in humorless fashion and without using the M-word.

"I did not apologize directly to him, but the gentleman asked a couple questions in doing his job," Lewis told Cleveland.com of Rinaldi. "Hopefully I answered them correctly."

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis calls Johnny Manziel 'a midget' (AUDIO)

All of the uncertainty surrounding who will be the Browns quarterback when they play the Bengals Sunday has everyone wondering if Cincinnati's game plan will change if Johnny Manziel replaces Brian Hoyer.

Asked if that would be the case during an interview on 700 WLW, Marvin Lewis came back with a short response.

"No ... you've got to defend the offense, you don’t defend the player ... particularly a midget,” said the Bengals head coach.

Wow. We all know Johnny football is smaller than most NFL quarterbacks but come on.

Here's the audio track:

Soon after that interview, Lewis said he was sorry.

"I apologize to Johnny and the Browns and all the fans in Cleveland," Lewis said. "It was just a poor remark. I seriously did not imply anything by it."

It sounds like coach forgot one little segment of the population in his apology.