Astronomer hires Gwyneth Paltrow as a ‘very temporary' spokesperson as ColdplayGate fallout ensues
Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.
— Astronomer (@astronomerio)
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Instead of answering, Paltrow redirects the conversation to … wait for it … data workflow automation.
'We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,' Paltrow said in an enthusiastic, yet sarcastic, tone.
In the replies, users commended the company's crisis management, with one person calling it 'a PR masterclass.'
The video drops in the wake of 'ColdplayGate,' a jumbotron controversy at a
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'Oh, look at these two. ... Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' said Martin when the jumbotron panned to the pair.
Last Saturday,
In the meantime, Astronomer is taking a different approach: self-aware humor.
'You take the most viral moment of July 2025 and, instead of disaster control, make light of the situation and create the ultimate brand awareness,' the user wrote.
Jessica Ma can be reached at
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Astronomer's HR chief resigns after Coldplay 'kiss cam' scandal: A timeline of what's happened since she was caught with CEO in viral video
The executives have resigned, while the band's streams have surged. They were caught canoodling at a Coldplay concert — and now they're out of jobs. Days after tech tech startup Astronomer announced the resignation of its married chief executive, Andy Byron, who was seen in a viral video with the head of human resources, Kristin Cabot, at the band's performance at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., the firm confirmed Thursday that Cabot is no longer employed by the company. 'Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer,' a company spokesperson said in a statement. 'She has resigned.' Below is a brief timeline of how we got here, from the viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' moment to the fallout online. July 16: The viral video During Coldplay's concert in Foxboro, lead singer Chris Martin has the camera operator scan the crowd for people to appear on the Jumbotron while he improvises song lyrics — a regular part of the band's recent performances. The camera then turns to the pair, who try to hide themselves when they realize they are being broadcast on the big screen. "Oh, look at these two,' Martin says. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy." A fan-shot video of the intimate moment explodes when it was posted online, with internet sleuths quickly identifying the man and woman in the clip as Byron and Cabot. July 18: The fallout begins Two days after the concert, Astronomer announces that the company's board of directors has launched a 'formal investigation' into the matter and that Byron has been placed on leave. Pete DeJoy, cofounder and chief product officer, is named interim CEO. 'Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,' the company says in a statement. 'Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability.' July 19: Byron resigns as CEO Astronomer announces that Byron has resigned from the company and that DeJoy will continue to serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found. The viral video continues to reverberate around the world, which the company acknowledged in its statement announcing Byron's resignation. 'Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,' the company says. 'While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.' That evening, during Coldplay's first show since the infamous kiss-cam incident, Martin jokingly issues a warning to the crowd. 'We'd like to say hello to some of you in the crowd,' he says, laughing. 'How we're gonna do that is we're gonna use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen. So please, if you haven't done your makeup, do your makeup now.' July 20: Interim CEO addresses the controversy In a lengthy statement posted to his LinkedIn page, DeJoy says the New York-based company, which was founded in 2017, is embracing its newfound fame. 'The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies — let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world — ever encounter,' DeJoy writes. 'The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.' 'We're here because the mission is bigger than any one moment,' he adds. 'And our story is very much still being written.' July 24: Astronomer confirms Cabot's resignation The company issues a brief statement to multiple media outlets confirming that Cabot resigned. Meanwhile, Coldplay is seeing a surge in interest on streaming platforms. According to Billboard data cited by the Hollywood Reporter, on-demand audio streams for Coldplay are up 25% since the Gillette Stadium show. 'In the preceding five days before the Boston concert, Coldplay had 28.7 million streams,' the Reporter says. In the five days since, they had 35.7 million. Solve the daily Crossword
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Astronomer's 'clever' PR move embracing CEO scandal
The US tech firm whose CEO and chief people officer resigned after being caught on camera embracing at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek promotional video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson". In the 60-second clip posted on Astronomer's X account, Hollywood star Paltrow - who was married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for more than 10 years - says she wants to answer "the most" common questions the company has recently been asked. The first of these questions, appearing as captions on screen, reads "OMG! What the actual f", to which Paltrow responds: "Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow", she ends the answer by claiming the company is "thrilled so many people have a "newfound interest in data workflow automation". When a follow up question asks how the company's social media team is "holding" after the clip went viral, Paltrow says spaces are still available for a forthcoming conference. Paltrow signs off the clip, which has been viewed over 27 million times by thanking viewers for their "interest in Astronomer", saying the company will now be returning "to what it does best". "It's a really clever video," Jordan Greenaway, CEO of PR firm Profile says. "Everyone has heard about this scandal, everyone has seen the video. But if you'd gone down the street and asked someone who the CEO of Astronomer was, they'd say 'the guy in the Coldplay video', but if you then asked 'what does Astronomer actually do or sell, they would probably say 'they're kind of a tech company.'" Greenaway says the video going viral probably won't have too much of a negative impact on Astronomer going forward, as the viral scandal "doesn't strike at the heart of the quality of their product". He says the company's goal was to create brand awareness amongst the mass public so the company isn't just known for the scandal. "I know there are some PRs whose default it is to lean into humour to bridge the scandal and get over the hump." "In most cases that doesn't work. "But this is what Astronomer is attempting to do in this case," he says. "Rather than sidestepping things, they're jumping in with both feet. That's often a good strategy when a crisis is so big and well-known that you cannot easily duck it." Greenaway compares it to the horsemeat scandal of 2013, when horsemeat was discovered in beef products across Europe, and says "it would not have been right to dress that up in humour by posing as a horse, for example, and giving a response". "That could lead to your customers saying 'this is something that attacked the quality of your product, and you're making light of it'." The nature of this scandal gives Astronomer the flexibility to approach their response with a bit more humour because the company sells a data service, Greenaway continues. "They're not making fun of the quality of their product, they're making fun of their CEO, who has now resigned." But Greenaway says while Astronomer can come out of this relatively unscathed, that isn't the case for Andy Byron. "He and his reputation are a different matter," he says. "If Andy Byron had made light of this, that would have been very unfair and very unethical, because he was the one undertaking in the bad behaviour." Byron had been CEO of Astronomer for two years when he and Kristin Cabot were caught on the giant screen at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on 16 July. Greenaway says he would have taken "by and large the same strategy," that Astronomer has had he been involved in a situation like this. "I would have got rid of the CEO sooner. If possible I would have liked to have shown these type of leadership ethics at Astronomer are unacceptable. "But in terms of moving the discussion back to the company, and what it actually does, I don't think this is a bad way to go about it. "I don't know if I would have had the courage to do what they are doing, but I hope I would have." Interest in Astronomer, which describes itself as "the best place to run Apache Airflow" - a product not developed by Astronomer - increased hugely since the clip of its former CEO went viral, with some unverified reports suggesting a spike of 15,000% in visits to the company's website. The company was founded in 2018, and provides services for companies that want to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). Astronomer says it has worked with Apple, Ford and Uber, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pete DeJoy, co-founder and chief product officer has been appointed as the company's interim CEO, and can at least see a positive to all the attention on his company. "The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name," he wrote on LinkedIn. The only previous statement the company had made was on X, two days after the Coldplay concert. "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," it said, while announcing a formal investigation had been launched. Seeing the moment Byron and Cabot hid from the camera from his position on stage, Coldplay's Chris Martin said: "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy." And if you're wondering what kind of PR impact this had on Paltrow's famous ex-husband and his band, Greenaway thinks it's neutral. "I don't think it increases awareness of them... the public at large have one thing in their head, and that's the Kiss Cam video. That drowns out all the other stuff." 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Astronomer's 'clever' PR move embracing CEO scandal
The US tech firm whose CEO and chief people officer resigned after being caught on camera embracing at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek promotional video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson". In the 60-second clip posted on Astronomer's X account, Hollywood star Paltrow - who was married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for more than 10 years - says she wants to answer "the most" common questions the company has recently been asked. The first of these questions, appearing as captions on screen, reads "OMG! What the actual f", to which Paltrow responds: "Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow", she ends the answer by claiming the company is "thrilled so many people have a "newfound interest in data workflow automation". When a follow up question asks how the company's social media team is "holding" after the clip went viral, Paltrow says spaces are still available for a forthcoming conference. Paltrow signs off the clip, which has been viewed over 27 million times by thanking viewers for their "interest in Astronomer", saying the company will now be returning "to what it does best". "It's a really clever video," Jordan Greenaway, CEO of PR firm Profile says. "Everyone has heard about this scandal, everyone has seen the video. But if you'd gone down the street and asked someone who the CEO of Astronomer was, they'd say 'the guy in the Coldplay video', but if you then asked 'what does Astronomer actually do or sell, they would probably say 'they're kind of a tech company.'" Greenaway says the video going viral probably won't have too much of a negative impact on Astronomer going forward, as the viral scandal "doesn't strike at the heart of the quality of their product". He says the company's goal was to create brand awareness amongst the mass public so the company isn't just known as the one whose CEO had an affair. "I know there are some PRs whose default it is to lean into humour to bridge the scandal and get over the hump." "In most cases that doesn't work. "But this is what Astronomer is attempting to do in this case," he says. "Rather than sidestepping things, they're jumping in with both feet. That's often a good strategy when a crisis is so big and well-known that you cannot easily duck it." Greenaway compares it to the horsemeat scandal of 2013, when horsemeat was discovered in beef products across Europe, and says "it would not have been right to dress that up in humour by posing as a horse, for example, and giving a response". "That could lead to your customers saying 'this is something that attacked the quality of your product, and you're making light of it'." The nature of this scandal gives Astronomer the flexibility to approach their response with a bit more humour because the company sells a data service, Greenaway continues. "They're not making fun of the quality of their product, they're making fun of their CEO, who has now resigned." But Greenaway says while Astronomer can come out of this relatively unscathed, that isn't the case for Andy Byron. "He and his reputation are a different matter," he says. "If Andy Byron had made light of this, that would have been very unfair and very unethical, because he was the one undertaking in the bad behaviour." Byron had been CEO of Astronomer for two years when he and Kristin Cabot were caught on the giant screen at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on 16 July. Greenaway says he would have taken "by and large the same strategy," that Astronomer has had he been involved in a situation like this. "I would have got rid of the CEO sooner. If possible I would have liked to have shown these type of leadership ethics at Astronomer are unacceptable. "But in terms of moving the discussion back to the company, and what it actually does, I don't think this is a bad way to go about it. "I don't know if I would have had the courage to do what they are doing, but I hope I would have." Interest in Astronomer, which describes itself as "the best place to run Apache Airflow" - a product not developed by Astronomer - increased hugely since the clip of its former CEO went viral, with some unverified reports suggesting a spike of 15,000% in visits to the company's website. The company was founded in 2018, and provides services for companies that want to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). Astronomer says it has worked with Apple, Ford and Uber, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pete DeJoy, co-founder and chief product officer has been appointed as the company's interim CEO, and can at least see a positive to all the attention on his company. "The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name," he wrote on LinkedIn. The only previous statement the company had made was on X, two days after the Coldplay concert. "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," it said, while announcing a formal investigation had been launched. Seeing the moment Byron and Cabot hid from the camera from his position on stage, Coldplay's Chris Martin said: "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy." And if you're wondering what kind of PR impact this had on Paltrow's famous ex-husband and his band, Greenaway thinks it's neutral. "I don't think it increases awareness of them... the public at large have one thing in their head, and that's the Kiss Cam video. That drowns out all the other stuff." Female exec captured in viral Coldplay concert clip resigns US tech CEO resigns after Coldplay concert embrace goes viral US tech CEO suspended after Coldplay concert embrace goes viral Solve the daily Crossword
