"One of the best crisis responses” - Internet reacts as Astronomer hires Gwyneth Paltrow as temporary spokesperson post Coldplay kiss cam scandal

Gwyneth Paltrow is the new temporary spokesperson at Astronomer.

The AI startup company, which went viral for the Coldplay kiss cam scandal, is poking fun at itself by hiring Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin’s ex-wife, as their temporary spokesperson. The tech company released a video announcing her position on the night of July 25, where Paltrow can be heard saying,

"Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. Hi, I'm Gwyneth Paltrow. I've been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer."

This comes after CEO Andy Byron and HR Head Kristin Cabot were caught in each other’s embrace by the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert. The two then ducked and proceeded to hide their faces, to which Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said:

"Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy."

After the news went viral and the internet dug up both their spouses, both Byron and Cabot lost their jobs at Astronomer.

Netizens took to X to express their opinions. This user noted:

”You hired the Coldplay singer’s ex-wife. Extraordinary."

Another user announced,

”Missed opportunity, background music should have been from Coldplay.”

"Never let a good crisis go to waste"

— a user expressed. A fan mentioned:

”This account has 15,364 followers right now. Tagging this to check back later and see how much that number has gone up."

On July 24, a rep for Astronomer revealed to People that the human resources executive had left her role. Post-scandal, CEO Andy Byron also resigned, and his resignation was announced on July 19. On July 21, the new interim CEO Pete DeJoy addressed the incident in a statement, saying:

"The events of the past few days have received a lot 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 a household name."

More about Gwyneth Paltrow's work at Astronomer

In a new video posted on LinkedIn on July 25, tech company Astronomer announced their new hire, Gwyneth Paltrow, as the company’s temporary spokesperson. As Gwyneth Paltrow introduced herself, she went on to add:

"Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones."

Seconds later, “OMG! What the actual f—” flashed across the screen, and the video quickly cut back to Gwyneth Paltrow, who continued:

"We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation."

Another question popped up on the screen addressing how the company’s social media team is handling the PR mess, which was again cut to Paltrow saying:

Trending

"We will now be returning to what we do best, delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer."

This is a strategic move by Astronomer as it tries to use the negative spotlight from the past week’s scandal.

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