Company at centre of viral Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ scandal drops cheeky video - with surprise twist

Astronomer found itself at the heart of a huge scandal after a clip showing two of its top executives embracing on a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert went viral.

The video, shared widely on TikTok and Instagram, appeared to show its CEO and HR chief embracing during a gig in Boston, before hurriedly letting go once they saw they were caught on the kiss cam.

Astronomer chief executive, Andy Byron, quit the company last weekend, swiftly followed by Chief people officer Kristin Cabot, plunging the tech firm into a crisis.

But the new video tries to put out these fires, introducing none other than Gwyneth Paltrow as a “very temporary spokesperson” for the company.

Paltrow is seen sitting at a desk and begins by thanking people for their interest in Astronomer, before introducing herself.

Read more: Fresh fallout from Coldplay 'kiss cam' scandal as Astronomer HR chief resigns after 'affair' exposed

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She adds: "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 - and they wanted me to answer the most common ones."

A question is then typed out across the screen, reading: "OMG, what the actual f …"

“Yes!” Paltrow responds before the final word is typed out, going on to discuss some of Astronomer’s tech services instead of the ‘kiss cam’ scandal.

Subtly acknowledging the huge social media storm caused by the scandal, Paltrow adds: "We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation."

A second question is typed out, reading: "How is your social media team holding up?"

Again, before the sentence is completed, Paltrow cuts in with “Yes!” before saying Astronomer still has spaces at an upcoming conference.

"We'll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers," she adds as she concludes the video.

The PR stunt is the first sign Astronomer is trying to put a positive spin on the scandal, which has brought tons of attention to the firm.

After Mr Byron resigned, an Astronomer spokesperson said: "As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding," the company said in a statement.

"Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met."

"The board will begin a search for our next chief executive as co-founder and chief product officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO."

On LinkedIn, interim Mr DeJoy wrote that the viral moment had brought "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: "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."

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin also reacted to the kiss cam footage during a concert at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin days later.

"We'd like to say hello to some of you in the crowd," Martin said.

"How we're going to do that is we're going to use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen."