Harrison Ford to skip Oscars 2025 following shingles diagnosis

Los Angeles: Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford will give the 97th Academy Awards a miss after being diagnosed with shingles.

The 82-year-old actor's representative confirmed Ford's diagnosis and his absence from the ceremony to the entertainment news outlet Variety.

Ford, whose latest film appearance is "Captain America: Brave New World", was supposed to be one of the presenters at Sunday's awards gala but was diagnosed with shingles on Friday.

As per the Mayo Clinic, the disease -- also known as herpes zoster -- is a painful rash caused by the varicella-zoster virus.

Other presenters at the Oscars 2025 include Dave Bautista, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldana and Rachel Zegler.

Conan O'Brien will host Oscars 2025, which will be live in India on streamer JioHotstar and TV channel Star Movies.