A tech company CEO has resigned after controversy over a video captured on the big screen at a Coldplay concert.
Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Astronomer Inc., according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company Saturday.
“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” the company said in its post on LinkedIn.
The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the incident, which went viral.
A short video clip from Coldplay’s concert Wednesday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, showed a man and a woman cuddling and smiling, his arms wrapped around her, as she leaned back into him. When they saw themselves on the big screen, her jaw dropped, her hands flew to her face and she spun away from the camera. He ducked out of the frame, as did she.
Lead singer Chris Martin had asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his “Jumbotron Song,” when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on.
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” he joked.
Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a U.S.-based company and the woman as its chief people officer.
Pete DeJoy, Astronomer’s cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byron’s successor.
Alex Veiga, The Associated Press
