Astronomer, the company at the center of the Andy Byron–Kristin Cabot Coldplay Kiss Cam debacle, has decided to join the fray by hiring Gwyneth Paltrow as its “very temporary” spokesperson.
The 52-year-old Shakespeare in Love alum happens to be the ex-wife of Coldplay’s front man, Chris Martin.
And it was Chris Martin who speculated about the possibility of Byron and Cabot having an affair when the camera caught them ducking for cover and plastered them across the big screen, and soon after, social media on July 16.
Highlights
- Gwyneth Paltrow delivered a tongue-in-cheek video for Astronomer, evading direct mention of the scandal.
- The PR stunt follows a viral kiss cam moment where CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristin Cabot ducked the lens.
- It is the first publicized attempt at damage control since accepting Byron’s resignation.
Gwyneth Paltrow was employed as Astronomer’s spokesperson
Image credits: gwynethpaltrow
As can be seen on Astronomer’s X account, Paltrow, sitting with her fingers crossed on the desk in front of her, addresses the camera, saying:
“Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. Hi, I’m Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer.
“Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days,” she says.
Image credits: astronomerio
The first question she addressed was: “OMG! What the actual f…”
She feigned ignorance and skirted the Coldplay event entirely
“Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow. Unifying the experience of running data, ML, and AI pipelines at scale,” Paltrow said.
“We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data automation. As for the other questions we’ve received.”
“How is your social media team holding…” came the next question.
“Yes!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “There’s still room available at our Beyond Analytics event in September,” she said, skirting the Coldplay event in its entirety.
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“We will now be returning to what we do best, delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer,” she concluded, feigning ignorance about the reason for the public’s increased awareness of the brand.
The publicity stunt follows ten days after the kiss cam scandal broke
The tech company’s attempt to make fun of itself comes less than two weeks after Byron, then its CEO, and his underling Cabot, who headed up the company’s HR department, were caught on camera at the Coldplay concert.
Image credits: Larry Busacca/NBC/Getty
As they were projected onto the big screen, the band’s lead singer, Chris Martin, called them out.
When they realized that the spotlight was on them, Cabot broke out from Byron’s embrace and spun around so that her back faced the camera while her employer dived out of view.
Going by their reaction, Martin speculated that the two were either “very shy of having an affair.”
Image credits: CollinRugg
“Sh*t!” he could later be heard exclaiming as the gravity of what had just happened dawned on him.
Astronomer claimed that the apparent affair clashed with its principles
The footage was captured by Grace Springer, a UK national who traveled from England to see her favorite band play in Massachusetts.
Image credits: CollinRugg
She uploaded the video to the Internet, and it went viral. This prompted a response from Astronomer, which claimed they were investigating the matter.
“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.
“The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter, and we will have additional details to share very shortly,” said a notice posted to its X handle on July 18.
It claimed it was aware that the odium changed the public’s perception
On July 19, the tech company announced that Byron had handed in his resignation.
“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO,” it wrote on its X account.
Image credits: coldplay
It also went as far as acknowledging that it anticipated a change in the public’s perception, saying:
“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI.
Image credits: gwynethpaltrow
“While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.”
Th internet is marveling at PR strategy
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