New Astronomer CEO Addresses Coldplay ‘Kiss Cam’ Scandal

It’s not often the new CEO of a company starts his new gig on the heels of a messy ‘kiss cam’ scandal … but that’s exactly what Pete DeJoy is tasked with handling.

The newly-appointed Astronomer boss took to LinkedIn Monday, July 21 to not only address the fallout from former CEO Andy Byron’s viral moment, but to also share where the company is headed next.

DeJoy started out by saying, “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. 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.”

DeJoy went on to highlight some of the challenges Astronomer faced in its early days, adding, “And yet, we’re still here.”

It was last week when Byron and Astronomer HR head Kristin Cabot were caught cuddling on the big screen at a Coldplay show in Massachusetts. Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin, saw the two quickly separate during the segment and joked they were either having an affair or VERY shy.

While we still don’t know the specifics of the relationship between Cabot and Byron, they certainly didn’t want to be seen together.

Nonetheless, Astronomer was quick to address the incident … revealing they were investigating the situation and would meet with the company board to discuss next steps.

Only a few hours after the announcement, it was revealed Byron was stepping down in his role, and DeJoy was announced as the new CEO a short time later.

Neither Cabot or Byron have been seen publicly since the scandal … but they certainly have inspired a ton of copy-cat videos and moments at arena and concert events since the incident.