Fonda told co-host Meredith Vieira that she was asked to perform a monologue with a slang term for vagina as the title - and Fonda used the term itself on the air in explaining why she said "no."
"I said, `I don't think so, I've got enough problems,"' Fonda said.
About 10 minutes later, Vieira told viewers that Fonda had used a word from the play that normally isn't used on television.
"It was a slip and obviously she apologizes and so do we," Vieira said. "We would do nothing to offend the audience, so please accept that apology."
"Today" moved quickly to silence the word and cover up Fonda's face with a still photo when the show was aired in the Midwest, Mountain and West Coast feeds.
It's been a month's worth of apologies for NBC News, owned by General Electric Co. MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews said he was sorry for suggesting that the reason Hillary Clinton was a presidential candidate was because of her husband's infidelities. MSNBC correspondent David Shuster was suspended for two weeks for saying the Clintons had "pimped out" daughter Chelsea for presidential campaigning.
