Gov. Sarah Palin said Tuesday she accepts David Letterman’s apology for the sexually charged joke he made about her daughter.

Palin said the apology was accepted “on behalf of all young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve.”

Facing enormous criticism for his Palin-daughter joke, Letterman on his show on Monday night apologized to the Palin family, saying it could not be defended and it was a bad joke.

I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.”

Letterman's gag last week about Palin's daughter getting knocked up by baseball player Alex Rodriguez during a visit to a New York Yankees game -- a line Palin suggested was really a reference to her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who attended the game.

David Letterman has said from the start that he thought the daughter who was at the Yankee game was Bristol Palin.

I feel I need to do the right thing and apologize for telling that joke, he said. It's not your fault it was misunderstood, it's my fault it was misunderstood.

The apologies came as a group of Palin supporters, calling themselves FireDavidLetterman.com, planned a Tuesday protest outside the late night studio at the Ed Sullivan theater in New York's Times Square.

Watch the video of David Letterman's apology below:

Sarah Palin