Day: July 27, 2025

• Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in a now-viral ad for Astronomer, a tech company.
• Astronomer had earlier gone viral after its CEO and head of HR were filmed at a Coldplay concert.
• Ryan Reynolds’ company, Maximum Effort, helped produce the promotional spot.

Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t the only big name attached to Astronomer’s cheeky response to “Coldplaygate.”

Ryan Reynolds’ company, Maximum Effort, announced its involvement with a lighthearted X post on Sunday.

“Thank you for your interest in Maximum Effort, @astronomerio! We’ll now get back to what we do best: motion pictures with Hugh Jackman, Fastvertising and Wrexham football,” the post said. “We’ll leave data workflow automation to ̶ G̶w̶y̶n̶e̶t̶h̶ ̶P̶a̶ Astronomer.

Reynolds launched Maximum Effort with his business partner, George Dewey, in 2018. The company makes ads, movies, and shows, often with an irreverent bent.

Astronomer’s cofounder and new CEO, Pete DeJoy, thanked Maximum Effort in a LinkedIn post on Sunday after praising his staff.

“I’d also like to thank the team at Maximum Effort for their remarkable work with our very temporary spokesperson,” DeJoy said. “As Gwyneth Paltrow said, now it’s time for us to return to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers. We look forward to what this next chapter holds for Astronomer.”

Although Astronomer began July as a little-known tech company, it grew into a pop culture phenomenon after its now-former CEO, Andy Byron, attended a Coldplay concert with the company’s now-former head of human resources, Kristin Cabot.

A “kiss cam” projected the pair embracing on a jumbotron during the concert. Cabot spun around and shielded her face, while Byron attempted to duck out of view.

“Uh oh, what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Coldplay front man Chris Martin said onstage.

A clip of the moment — now dubbed “Coldplaygate” — was shared widely on social media, where people cracked jokes and shared related memes. Companies and sports teams also got in on the fun. Following the flood of attention, Byron and Cabot resigned from their positions with the company.

Astronomer was left to pick up the remains of its public reputation.

That’s when Paltrow entered the scene.

Paltrow, who was previously married to Martin, appeared as a “temporary” spokesperson for Astronomer in a one-minute video shared on social media. At the time of writing, the video has 149,000 likes and over 36 million views.

Instead of answering the internet’s burning questions, Paltrow used the platform to promote Astronomer’s products. “Thank you for your interest in Astronomer,” Paltrow said at the video’s end.

Representatives for Astronomer, Maximum Effort, and Paltrow did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.