In a bizarre twist to a corporate scandal, American actress Gwyneth Paltrow has appeared as a temporary “spokesperson” for tech company Astronomer.This comes days after the Astronomer CEO and HR head resigned following a viral kiss cam moment at a Coldplay concert.The video was posted on the Astronomer’s X account. It shows Paltrow answering mock questions from the public, poking fun at the company’s sudden fame after its top brass was caught in an apparent affair.However, netizens were quick to point out that the Coldplay concert where the incident occurred was headlined by Chris Martin, Paltrow’s ex-husband and the father of her two children.The scandal began when Astronomer’s CEO Andy Byron and Head of HR Kristin Cabot were caught on the kiss cam during a Coldplay show at Gillette Stadium on July 16. Their awkward, panicked reaction quickly went viral on social media. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin even called them out mid-show, joking they were “having an affair.”Both Byron and Cabot resigned from their positions following the incident. In the video, Paltrow was seen wearing a light blue shirt and seated in a plain corporate setting. Paltrow opens the video with, “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.”The background music and format seem corporate in style.But the tone shifts quickly as a question flashes on-screen: “OMG! What the actual f**k.” Paltrow replies, “Yes! Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.”She continues, “We’ve been thrilled to see so many people suddenly interested in data workflow automation,” before smiling and adding, “As for the other questions we’ve received…”Another query appears: “Q: How is your social media team holding—” before Paltrow jumps in again: “Yes! There is still room available at our Beyond Analytics event this September!”She concludes, “And now, we’ll return to doing what we do best… delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”While the video is being praised by some as clever marketing, others are calling it a desperate PR stunt to deflect attention from the viral scandal.Astronomer’s new interim CEO, Pete DeJoy, addressed the controversy, writing: “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 now a household name.”
