The new interim CEO of Astronomer issued a statement Monday on the viral moment at a Coldplay concert that thrust the data company into the spotlight.
Pete DeJoy stepped into the role after the former CEO, Andy Byron, resigned on Saturday following the circulation of a clip of him and a woman in an embrace at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on Wednesday.
Coldplay’s “kiss cam” was displaying couples in attendance on the screens when it panned to a man, later identified as Byron, and a woman, who turned around to hide her face, while Byron quickly ducked out of the frame.
The moment went viral, with users claiming that he is a married man. However, NBC News has not independently confirmed this or identified the woman.
In his statement, DeJoy said that the incident received “a level 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 now a household name,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
DeJoy continued that Astronomer, a New York-based company with under 500 employees, has “never shied away from challenges,” including navigating financial issues and the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“And yet, we’re still here,” he wrote. “We’re here because Astronomer is built by people who live to solve hard problems, stay late to fix what’s broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way. We’re here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we’re here because the mission is bigger than any one moment.”
