Astronomer's New CEO Addresses the Viral Coldplay 'Kiss Cam' Fiasco: 'Unusual and Surreal for Our Team' Coldplay also addressed the situation, but with a bit more comic relief.
By Erin Davis
By now, if you're even the slightest bit online, you've seen the mega-viral Coldplay concert kiss-cam fiasco that led to an endless supply of memes and the resignation of at least one top tech executive.
After former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company's Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, were publicly caught on camera in a compromising position together last week, the company's new interim CEO is speaking out.
Pete DeJoy, who is also a co-founder of the software company, wrote on LinkedIn on Monday that the last week has been "unusual and surreal" for the team at the private data infrastructure startup that reached "unicorn" status in 2022. He wrote that he's "proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build" the company and stressed that despite the attention this past week, everything remains on track.
"The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter," DeJoy wrote. "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."
Related: The CEO of the World's Most Valuable Company Says This Would Be His College Major in 2025
"From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room," the post continues. "Our opportunity to build a DataOps platform for the age of AI remains massive. And our story is very much still being written."
Coldplay, meanwhile, addressed the situation with a bit more comic relief. In the first concert following the scandal, lead singer Chris Martin made a point to warn the already laughing audience that they could be "put on camera, on the big screen."
On Saturday, the company also addressed the scandal, posting on X that Byron had resigned.
"Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI," the company wrote. "While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not."
As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 19, 2025
Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and… pic.twitter.com/aTTUhnnyVz
Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.
