The chief executive of tech firm Astronomer has resigned after a video that appeared to show two of its senior staffers in an embrace at a Coldplay concert went viral.
The company posted a statement on its social media channels on Saturday, saying Andy Byron had tendered his resignation, three days after a video went viral online, allegedly showing Byron and another Astronomer senior manager with their arms around each other during the band’s concert in Boston.
In the social media storm that followed, the pair were alleged to be having an affair.
Astronomer previously said Byron had been placed on leave, but the company has yet to confirm it was him in the video.
However, on Saturday afternoon, the company said Byron’s resignation had been accepted by its board of directors and it would begin a search for its next chief executive.
“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company’s statement reads.
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“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.”
In the viral clip, the pair are shown on a “kiss cam” video screen with their arms around each other. Once they realize their intimate moment has been projected onto the big screen, the man quickly ducked out of view and the woman turned to hide her face.
Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin is heard on the clip narrating the awkward moment, saying, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
In a statement a day earlier, on Friday, the company remarked on the viral moment, saying it had launched a “formal investigation” into the matter.
It also dismissed a statement claiming to be from Byron that was widely circulating on social media as fake, saying he had not yet commented on the matter.
