Tech firm Astronomer embraces scandal with viral humour, casting Gwyneth Paltrow in a bold PR pivot

When a tech firm’s top brass gets caught kissing on a jumbotron at a Coldplay concert, most companies retreat in silence. Astronomer, a Cincinnati-based data automation firm, did the opposite—turning PR crisis into marketing gold with help from none other than Gwyneth Paltrow.

Just days after the viral clip showed CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot embracing awkwardly on the big screen at Gillette Stadium, Astronomer posted a 60-second video on X (formerly Twitter) featuring Paltrow as a tongue-in-cheek “temporary spokesperson.”

It wasn’t a random choice. Paltrow was famously married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for over a decade, and her connection injected star power—and irony—into a corporate response already bordering on the surreal. Her dry delivery answers imagined questions such as “OMG! What the actual f—?” by pivoting to: “Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.”

She signs off the now-viral video, viewed over 27 million times, by thanking viewers for their “interest in Astronomer” and promising the company would return to “what it does best.” Her deadpan performance offers a satirical but calculated attempt to reclaim the brand narrative.

“It’s a really clever video,” says Jordan Greenaway, CEO of PR firm Profile. “If you’d asked people what Astronomer was before this scandal, they’d say ‘some tech company.’ Now? It’s on the map.”

The original incident occurred at a Coldplay show on 16 July in Foxborough, Massachusetts, when the couple—both senior executives—were captured by the venue’s Kiss Cam. Byron and Cabot have since resigned, and a formal investigation was launched. The astronomer’s only official statement at the time reiterated its commitment to ethical leadership.

Greenaway says Astronomer’s humour-led approach works because the scandal didn’t attack the product’s integrity. “They’re not laughing at a product failure, but poking fun at the fallout of poor personal judgment,” he explains. “They jumped in with both feet, and that’s often a good strategy when you can’t duck a crisis.”

Still, he warns the humour would’ve backfired had it come from the individuals involved. “If Byron himself had joked about it, that would’ve been unethical. But the company is turning lemons into lemonade? That’s PR triage.”

Astronomer, founded in 2018, offers managed services for Apache Airflow—a data workflow automation tool originally developed by Airbnb. It claims marquee clients like Apple, Ford, and Uber. According to unverified reports, the firm saw a 15,000% spike in web traffic following the viral concert footage.

Pete DeJoy, Astronomer’s co-founder and chief product officer, is now interim CEO. Writing on LinkedIn, he called the situation “surreal” but admitted the attention turned the company into a household name overnight.

“I would never have wished for it to happen like this,” he wrote, “but the spotlight has been unusual and—at times—useful.”

Not everyone is walking away unscathed. “Byron’s personal reputation is another matter,” Greenaway adds. “This is a career-defining moment—and not in a good way.”

Paltrow’s involvement stirred amusement, not controversy, largely because her role was clearly satirical. Her ex-husband’s band, meanwhile, remained untouched. “The public has one thing on their mind,” Greenaway says. “The Kiss Cam. That drowns out everything else.”

As Coldplay’s US tour wraps in Miami this weekend, Astronomer is attempting its own encore—not with confessions, but conversions.