Astronomer CEO resigns after viral Coldplay concert incident

The Chief Executive of New York-based tech company Astronomer, Andy Byron, has resigned from his role after he was spotted embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert.

According to a statement released by the company on Saturday and seen by CNN, its board of directors accepted Byron’s resignation and will begin searching for its next CEO.

Following the viral video of Byron, alleged statements from Byron acknowledging the situation began to circulate online.

Astronomer said in an earlier LinkedIn post that Byron “has not put out any statement” and “reports saying otherwise are all incorrect.”

That statement also addressed the misidentification of a third person seen in the clip circulating on the internet in the day following the video’s release.

“As stated previously, 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 Saturday.

On Wednesday, Byron was seen with Kristin Cabot, the company’s chief people officer, on the “kiss cam” screen at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, before both ducked out of view.

Coldplay was performing “The Jumbotron Song” when the camera turned to both of them cuddling as they watched the stage

The two quickly separated and attempted to hide their faces, with the man ducking down, when they noticed they were on a giant screen at the venue.

“Whoa, look at these two,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin quipped. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”

The data operations company, which was founded in 2018, acknowledged that “awareness of our company may have changed overnight,” but its mission would continue to be focused on addressing data and artificial intelligence problems.

The company on Friday said Astronomer’s co-founder and chief product officer Pete DeJoy would serve as interim CEO.

“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability,” the statement said in part, adding that the company’s board of directors “has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.”

Byron’s LinkedIn account is no longer public and he was removed from the company’s leadership page following the announcement, which now lists co-founder DeJoy as CEO.

Byron is still listed on the company’s website as a member of the board of directors.