Mayor Bill de Blasio will be skipping Groundhog Day festivities again at the Staten Island Zoo this weekend — but he’s got an excuse.

The mayor is headed to Los Angeles to appear on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” with the show picking up the airfare and hotel costs, an aide said.

So City Council Speaker Corey Johnson — who is considering running for mayor in 2021 — will be handling groundhog duties Saturday at the zoo’s annual event to determine if spring will come early this year.

“This is one of those great New York traditions, so I couldn’t be happier to be taking part in the Groundhog Day ceremony at the Staten Island Zoo,” Johnson told The Post.

“I’ve never met Chuck, but I’m a huge fan of his work. I promise New Yorkers I will do everything I can to give us an early spring.”

De Blasio had animal lovers fuming in 2014 when he dropped Chuck’s 10-month-old stand-in, Charlotte, as she tried crawling up his arm. The furry winter weather prognosticator wound up dying of “acute internal injuries” a week later.

The fatal fumble left its mark on de Blasio, who will be skipping the annual event for the fourth year in a row.

In 2015, a Plexiglas enclosure was installed for the groundhog to do his stuff, so he’ll be safe from another possible incident.

De Blasio isn’t the first mayor to miss the Groundhog Day ceremony.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg skipped the event five times during his 12 years in office — and called Chuck a “little son of a bitch” for biting him in 2009.