Gwyneth Paltrow becomes Astronomer 'spokesperson' after Coldplay concert saga

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

Tech company Astronomer has poked fun at its recent Coldplay concert scandal by hiring band frontman Chris Martin's ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, as a "temporary spokesperson".
The company made headlines last week when its married CEO, Andy Byron, and HR chief, Kristin Cabot, were captured together on the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert.
Martin was heard saying: "Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy."
Both of them later resigned from their positions at Astronomer and the fallout made global headlines and led to a string of internet memes.
Now, the company appears to be using its newfound internet fame as a promotional tool.
A company video captioned "thankyou for your interest in Astronomer" opens with actor Paltrow saying: "Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones."
A title on the screen reads: "OMG what the actual F."
"Unifying the experience of running data, ML and AI pipelines at scale," she answers.
"We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data automation. As for the other questions we've received — yes! There's still room available at our Beyond Analytics event in September.
Paltrow then goes on to talk about the company and its upcoming events.
"Thank you for your interest in Astronomer."
Astronomer was a previously obscure tech company based in New York. It provides companies with a platform that helps them organise their data.
Before Ms Cabot and Mr Byron resigned, the company posted a statement on its LinkedIn and X accounts saying it would conduct a formal investigation into the pair's actions.
"Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding," it said.
"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.
"[Astronomer senior director, people] Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video.
"Andy Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect."
The company did not mention the Coldplay concert in its statement.
It instead referred to an "event" and used careful, vague wording like "this matter".
Now, it appears the company has embraced the reason for its sudden fame and, perhaps in an intentional move, picked Paltrow because she is Martin's ex-wife.