Kiss cam scandal: Astronomer taps Chris Martin's ex Gwyneth Paltrow for PR

Goop founder and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin's former spouse helps Astronomer bring public focus back to the company's foundation after viral kiss cam scandal

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Hollywood actress and lifestyle brand Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow has entered the tech chat — temporarily — to address the fallout from a viral "kiss cam" moment at a Coldplay concert. The incident involved the very public discovery of an extramarital affair between the US-based AI startup Astronomer's former CEO and chief people officer.

 

Chris Martin's ex Gwyneth Paltrow addresses Astronomer kiss cam scandal

In a tongue-in-cheek video posted Friday on Astronomer’s official X account, the Hollywood actress, who was married to Coldplay’s Chris Martin for over a decade before "consciously uncoupling" in 2014, declared she’s been hired on a “very temporary basis” to represent the New York-based AI startup’s 300-plus employees.

 

Her mission? Not to talk about the kiss cam scandal that’s been lighting up social media for the past week. 

 

“Thank you for your interest in Astronomer,” Paltrow says at the start of the video. “Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,” she says.

 

The video opens with someone typing, “OMG! What the actual F...,” before cutting to Paltrow cheerfully praising the company’s AI capabilities, “Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow”. 

“We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,” she adds.

 

In another clip, she interrupts a question beginning with, “How is your social media team holding…” to instead announce that registration is still open for Astronomer’s Beyond Analytics event in September. “We will now be returning to what we do best — delivering game-changing results for our customers,” she says, smiling.

 

The Coldplay kiss cam incident

The message follows a very public scandal involving former CEO Andy Byron and then-Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, who were caught in an awkward embrace on a “kiss cam” during a July 16 Coldplay concert near Boston. Both executives — who are married to other people — quickly became the subject of online speculation after dodging the camera in a way that even Coldplay frontman Chris Martin couldn’t ignore.

 

“Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy,” Martin joked from the stage, in a clip that’s been shared widely across platforms.

 

The fallout was swift. Byron stepped down on July 19, and Cabot resigned on Thursday. In a July 18 statement, the company said it had launched an internal investigation and added, “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability.”

 

Astronomer confirmed Thursday that Cabot was the woman in the video. Neither she nor Byron has publicly commented. Byron’s wife, Megan Kerrigan, and Cabot’s husband, Andrew Cabot, have also stayed silent.

 

Astronomer's PR spin gets applause

The AI startup's PR stunt seems to be paying off, with users praising the team and laughing along. One user commented,“You hired the Coldplay singer’s ex-wife. Extraordinary.” Another wrote, "Your PR team deserves a raise!"  The video has amassed nearly 10 million views on X in under 12 hours.