The new CEO of Astronomer has spoken out after the viral video from a Coldplay concert raised awareness of the company.
The now-infamous moment, captured during a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium, showed former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron in an embrace with Kristin Cabot, the company’s Chief People Officer.
The drama began when the kiss cam zoomed in on Byron and Cabot, both of whom appeared flustered and quickly tried to dodge the camera’s gaze in front of 55,000 concertgoers.
The moment, punctuated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s quip - “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy” - soon went viral, sparking memes, speculation, and a firestorm of corporate fallout.
“A part of me feels bad… but, play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” said Grace Springer, the concertgoer who originally posted the clip, via the US Sun.
She added: “I just thought I caught an interesting reaction to the kiss cam and decided to post it.”
What began as a lighthearted concert moment turned into a public relations nightmare for Astronomer, a startup valued at over $1.3 billion and known for its generative AI platform used by companies like Uber and LinkedIn.
Byron was quickly placed on leave while the company initiated an internal investigation. As Astronomer said at the time: “Our leaders are expected to set the standard… and recently, that standard was not met.”
Just one day later, Byron tendered his resignation.
Pete DeJoy, who was Astronomer’s cofounder and Chief Product Officer before stepping into the CEO role, addressed the chaos in a candid LinkedIn post: “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."
He added a silver lining: "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.”
Despite the whirlwind, DeJoy emphasized that the company is staying focused: “At Astronomer we have never shied away from challenges; a near-decade of building this business has tested us time and time again, and each time we've emerged stronger.”
He went on: “We’re here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way.
"We’re here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.”
Speaking about the virality of the video, Springer told This Morning: “In the moment when I filmed it I didn't think much of it but everyone was kind of chattering. There was over 50,000 people at the concert so it was a hot topic.
"But it wasn't until after the concert that I was debriefing the moment with my friends and said, 'let's review the footage, let's see if it really looks that bad'. And I think it does.”
She admitted to feeling conflicted: “I definitely feel for Andy's wife Megan, his family and everyone else who has been hurt in the process but as I said there was over 50,000 people and I'm not the only one that caught it on camera so if it wasn't me who uploaded it, I'm sure someone else would've.”