Gwyneth Paltrow has made a bizarre appearance in a tongue-in-cheek video campaign for Astronomer, the tech company at the centre of the viral Coldplay kiss cam scandal, to answer questions as their temporary “spokesperson”.
The company’s CEO Andy Byron was caught on camera at a Coldplay concert while in an intimate embrace with his colleague, Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, sparking reports of an alleged affair that ultimately led both employees to step down.
Astronomer appears to be making light of the situation by hiring Paltrow, the ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, to appear in a corporate-style social media video as their temporary crisis PR manager.
In the clip shared on Friday (25 July), the Shakespeare in Love actor tells viewers she had been “hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300 plus employees at Astronomer”.
She continues: “Astronomer has got a lot of questions in the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones.”
Paltrow then answers queries the company had received in the wake of the scandal, with text appearing on screen, reading: “Q: OMG! What the actual f***”. Paltrow abruptly cuts off the question, adding: “Yes! Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.”
She subtly refers to the scandal, saying: “We’ve been thrilled to see so many people suddenly interested in data workflow automation.”
The clip cuts back to the on-screen questionnaire, which reads: “Q: How is your social media team holding…”
Paltrow quickly changes the subject, saying: “Yes! There is still space available at our Beyond Analytics event this September!”
“And now, we’ll return to doing what we do best… delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
In the original kiss cam video captured on 16 July, Byron and Cabot, who were embracing with Byron wrapping his arms around his colleague’s waist from behind, awkwardly jumped out of each other’s arms as they flashed up on a “kiss cam” during Coldplay’s Boston show. The HR chief covered her face with her hands, while Bryon crouched down, trying to hide from the camera.
Frontman Chris Martin said from the stage: “Oh, what… either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy. I’m not quite sure what to do.”
After the moment went viral online, the tech company issued a statement, saying: “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, and recently, that standard was not met.”
“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.”
DeJoy said in a LinkedIn post that despite the circumstances, Astronomer is now a “household name”.
“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 said in the post. “While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.”
Martin and Paltrow married in 2003 before famously announcing their separation as a “conscious uncoupling” in 2014. The pair remain friends and continue to co-parent their two children, Apple, 21, and Moses, 19.
