Astronomer Interim CEO addresses viral Coldplay concert scandal: 'Our mission is bigger than any one moment'

Coldplay kiss cam sparks viral scandal for tech CEO and HR chief

What should?ve been a lighthearted moment at a Coldplay concert turned into a viral nightmare for Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot. Caught on the kiss cam at Gillette Stadium, the pair?s awkward reaction fueled rumors of an alleged office affair?especially after it was revealed they were senior executives at the same $1B tech company. Here?s how the moment unfolded and why it?s blowing up online. Credit: Grace Springer via Storyful

The interim CEO of Astronomer has released a statement after his predecessor resigned over an alleged affair that became a viral sensation during a Coldplay concert. 

What they're saying:

Pete DeJoy released this statement on LinkedIn Monday:

Over the weekend, I stepped into the role of Interim CEO at Astronomer, a company that I’ve proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build.

RELATED: CEO of Astronomer resigns after viral Coldplay concert scandal

Over the past few years, our business has experienced incredible growth. What was once a mission to help companies with Apache Airflow has turned into so much more. We’re privileged to sit at the center of our customers’ data & AI strategy, powering data pipelines behind in-game analytics of your favorite sports team, LLM powered chatbots for customer support, training AI for self-driving cars, and every mission-critical process in between.

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.

At Astronomer we have never shied away from challenges; a near-decade of building this business has tested us time and time again, and each time we’ve emerged stronger. 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.

And yet, we’re still here.

We’re here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way. We’re here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.

I’m stepping into this role with a wholehearted commitment to taking care of our people and delivering for our customers. Astronomer’s foundation remains strong, built around the thriving Apache Airflow community. Our opportunity to build a DataOps platform for the age of AI remains massive. And our story is very much still being written.

To our team: thank you for your resilience & commitment to building something great. And to our community and customers: thank you for your trust. We won’t let you down.

The backstory:

Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc., according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company Saturday.

RELATED: Coldplay kiss cam catches alleged affair between AI CEO and HR chief

"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," the company said in its post on LinkedIn.

The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral. A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video.

The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday.

Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a U.S.-based company and the woman as its chief people officer.