Days after he was caught on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert with the company’s chief people officer, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron has resigned.
The moment — which quickly went viral — shows Byron and Kristin Cabot swaying together at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts before both awkwardly duck out of frame when they realize they’re on the big screen. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin takes notice and, after a beat, jokes, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
The crowd laughs. The internet runs with it.
Within hours, Byron was identified as the man in the clip. Cabot’s name soon followed. The video racked up more than 26 million views on TikTok and X, and speculation about their relationship — along with memes, jokes and some misidentifications — quickly followed.
On Saturday, the Cincinnati-based data company confirmed Byron had “tendered his resignation” and that the board of directors had accepted.
“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” Astronomer wrote in a LinkedIn post. The company stopped short of addressing the concert directly, but the timing left little doubt.
The post added that cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy would continue serving as interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement.
In an earlier post, Astronomer had also denied that Byron had released any personal statement and addressed the misidentification of a third person seen in some versions of the viral clip.
“While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not,” the company added Saturday. “We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”
Astronomer was founded in 2018 and has positioned itself as a leader in data orchestration tools for AI and analytics.
Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” world tour continues. For Astronomer, it’s back to business — minus a CEO and plus a whole lot of name recognition.
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