Astronomer CEO Andy Byron has resigned after being seen embracing an employee on large video screens at a Coldplay concert.
During Coldplay’s show at Boston’s Gillette Stadium on Wednesday (July 16), a jumbotron captured Byron with his arms around the IT company’s chief human resources officer, Kristin Cabot, during a kiss-cam segment. Upon realizing they were on the big screen, Byron quickly ducked out of view while Cabot turned away. Both individuals are married to other people.
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said from the stage.
In the days that followed, the video went viral on social media, quickly sparking a wave of memes and jokes about the incident. Country singer Morgan Wallen even weighed in during his concert in Glendale, Ariz., on Friday (July 18), telling the crowd that anyone attending with their “side chick” was “safe here.”
Astronomer has since released a statement noting that Byron is stepping down as CEO and that the company is searching for his replacement, according to The Associated Press.
“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” the company wrote in a statement on Saturday (July 19). “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met. Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”
The statement continued, “Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI. While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”
Coldplay had not released a statement about the situation at press time. But at the band’s concert in Madison, Wis., on Saturday — their first show since the kiss-cam moment — a fan held up a sign that read, “He’s not my CEO,” with an arrow pointing to the man beside her, prompting laughter from the crowd, according to TMZ.