After Astronomer’s former CEO, Andy Byron, was caught snuggling the HR head, Kristin Cabot, on Coldplay’s ‘kiss cam’, it has been the only thing occupying the netizens’ minds. The picture from the show has been turned into memes, and theories continue to emerge. Amidst that, Astronomer issued a statement removing Andy from his position, and the chief product officer, Pete DeJoy, has been brought in to replace him.
Astronomer ex-CEO, Andy Byron’s replacement, interim CEO, Pete DeJoy, issues his first statement on the ‘kiss cam’ row
Pete DeJoy is currently serving as the interim CEO of Astronomer, a tech company. He is a company veteran and helped establish Astronomer in 2017 and oversaw its core products, including the Apache Airflow platform. He graduated with dual degrees in Chemistry and Physics from Bowdoin College and served as the Chief Product Officer, having previously held the position of Vice President of Product. He had been with Astronomer for eight years and holds a great understanding of its work culture. He is uniquely suited to steer the data infrastructure and operations firm during this unexpected fiasco.
Interim CEO, Pete DeJoy issues his first statement after the ‘kiss cam’ fiasco
It was on July 21, 2025, when interim CEO, Pete DeJoy posted a statement on LinkedIn. He shared the note under the heading, ‘Moving Forward at Astronomer’, and called it an ‘unusual and surreal’ period. He added that the events that have occurred in the past few days have garnered the kind of media coverage that only a few big names have been able to receive. He added:
“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…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.”
Pete DeJoy also expressed his gratitude towards his team. He thanked them for their resilience and commitment to building the firm. He further thanked the customers of Astronomer and stated:
“To our team: thank you for your resilience & commitment to building something great. And to our community and customers: thank you for your trust. We won’t let you down.”
Astronomer had issued a statement removing Andy Byron from his post as the CEO
It was around the wee hours of July 19, 2025 (IST), when Astronomer took to their LinkedIn account and shared an update about the investigation into Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot’s affair. The statement added that they expected their leaders to take accountability for their actions. In another note, they shared that given the situation, Andy Byron was being put on leave. They shared that the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Pete DeJoy, will assume the responsibilities of the interim CEO until further notice. The statement could be read as:
“Cofounder and Chief Product Officer, Pete DeJoy is currently serving as interim CEO given Andy Byron has been placed on leave. We will share more details as appropriate in the coming days.”
The ‘kiss cam’ scandal at the Coldplay concert
It was on July 16, 2025, when Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot were attending the Coldplay concert in Boston. The duo had been snuggling and enjoying the music when suddenly the kiss cam focused on them. Instinctively, Andy and Kristin ducked away from the cameras and snuck out of the scene. It was later revealed that the two were indeed having an affair, and the matter has since left the internet ablaze.
What are your thoughts on Pete DeJoy’s first statement as the interim CEO?
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