After the unicorn tech company, Astronomer, went mega-viral when two of its top executives were caught in a romantic moment on the big screen at a Coldplay concert (both are married to other people), it set off a week-long news cycle of endless memes, late-night jokes, and even made the evening news.
It also led to the resignations of both executives, now-former CEO Andy Byron and former HR chief, Kristin Cabot. And while many companies might bring in crisis communications experts in a situation like this, others take a line from Ryan Reynolds.
Astronomer hired Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s ex-wife, the Oscar-winning actress and Goop entrepreneur, Gwyneth Paltrow, to be a “temporary spokesperson” for the company. In a video posted to Instagram, Paltrow says that she was hired to “speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer.”
Related: How Ryan Reynolds’ Marketing Agency Keeps Making Viral Hits
“We’ve been thrilled, so many people have been interested in data-workflow animation,” Paltrow jokes.
The spot was produced by Ryan Reynolds’s production company, Maximum Effort, which is known for its comedic ads, including the infamous Peloton ad that also capitalized on controversy.
Thank you for your interest in Maximum Effort, @astronomerio! We’ll now get back to what we do best: motion pictures with Hugh Jackman, Fastvertising and Wrexham football. We’ll leave data workflow automation to ̶G̶w̶y̶n̶e̶t̶h̶ ̶P̶a̶ Astronomer. pic.twitter.com/ayeo65Y0KC
— Maximum Effort (@MaximumEffort) July 27, 2025
Last week, Astronomer co-founder and interim CEO Pete DeJoy wrote on LinkedIn that it’s been “unusual and surreal” for the team at the private data infrastructure startup since the scandal went viral around the world.
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After the unicorn tech company, Astronomer, went mega-viral when two of its top executives were caught in a romantic moment on the big screen at a Coldplay concert (both are married to other people), it set off a week-long news cycle of endless memes, late-night jokes, and even made the evening news.
It also led to the resignations of both executives, now-former CEO Andy Byron and former HR chief, Kristin Cabot. And while many companies might bring in crisis communications experts in a situation like this, others take a line from Ryan Reynolds.
Astronomer hired Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s ex-wife, the Oscar-winning actress and Goop entrepreneur, Gwyneth Paltrow, to be a “temporary spokesperson” for the company. In a video posted to Instagram, Paltrow says that she was hired to “speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer.”
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