The recent CEO scandal involving a Coldplay concert captured the attention of the internet, and now a well-known celebrity has responded with a bold statement.
For those unaware, a ‘kiss cam’ at the event highlighted the unfolding drama. Married CEO Andy Byron of Astronomer was caught on camera sharing a moment with his HR representative, Kristin Cabot. Upon realizing they were being filmed, the two tried to avoid the camera’s gaze.
However, Chris Martin, Coldplay’s lead singer, saw the incident and commented to the audience: “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.”
Following the viral incident, Andy Byron was placed on leave and later resigned, while Kristin Cabot also reportedly left the company.
In a surprising turn of events, nearly two weeks after the CEO’s departure, Astronomer hired a celebrity to temporarily represent the company. The company’s social media post featuring this announcement was simply captioned: “Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
The representative is none other than Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin’s former wife. Sitting at a desk dressed in business attire, she addressed the situation.
“I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer,” Paltrow began, noting that the organization has faced ‘many questions in recent days.’
The actress used humor to tackle some of the most common queries, starting with “OMG! What the actual f***?”
In a calm manner, Paltrow replied, “Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow, unifying the experience of running data, ML, and AI pipelines at scale. We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”
The next question addressed was: “How is your social media team holding…” before Paltrow humorously interrupted with, “Yes! There is still room available at our Beyond Analytics event in September.”
She concluded by saying, “We will now be returning to what we do best, which is delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
The playful video sparked a range of reactions. One Twitter user commented, “You got Chris Martin’s ex wife???!!! Savage.” Another expressed disbelief at the choice, saying, “You hired the Coldplay singer’s ex-wife. Extraordinary.”
Many praised the marketing strategy, with one calling it a “PR masterclass,” while another referred to it as “one of the best crisis responses I’ve ever seen in my life.”