The internet is having a meltdown after a jumbotron “kiss camera”-type shot at a Coldplay concert appears to have taken the lid off a married tech entrepreneur’s workplace romance with his head of human relations.
The incriminating footage, which captures the moment that a chief executive officer of a software company and his chief people officer realized their public display of affection was being showcased on the venue’s big screen, is being dubbed the “Internet’s biggest scandal today,” and has become the butt of what seems like nearly every joke on X.
“Date idea: take your grok companion to coldplay,” Elon Musk’s AI chatbox, Grok, quipped.
“How to stay married: 1. Don’t get caught cheating on your spouse via the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert,” the president of a wealth management firm, Douglas Boneparth, advised.
“Coldplay video board guy exposing more people than the Epstein binders,” another reckoned.
Some users expressed frustration with the duo’s obviously panicked reaction, arguing that the viral moment was entirely avoidable.
“Man ALL YOU HAD TO DO was no-sell it,” one user wrote on X. “If you hadn’t gone down like you’d been shot, nobody would’ve ever known. What, you think your spouses are … at home watching Coldplay jumbotron footage???” He added: “You’ve absolutely played yourselves.” The user’s advice received hundreds of thousands of likes and was viewed 7.9 million times.
Even New York City’s sanitation department jumped on the story, using it as a cautionary tale about sneaking around in public.
“Cameras are EVERYWHERE! Don’t get caught doing something you *maybe* shouldn’t be doing,” the force’s official X account posted on Thursday. “Thinking about doing something naughty, like dumping trash in the City? We’ve got video cameras all over. We WILL catch you – and you will pay the price!”
For an exchange platform that allows investors to legally bet on real-world outcomes, Kalshi, the scandal presented a new trade opportunity: “Will the CEO of Astronomer leave in July?” The chances have hovered around 50 percent.
The viral footage at the center of the controversy shows the chief executive officer of Astronomer, Andy Byron, at a rock concert in Boston locked in a warm embrace with a woman other than his wife.
The clip captures the moment that Mr. Byron and his chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, went from gleefully swaying in each other’s arms to going full-on panic mode after realizing that they were being broadcast on the venue’s jumbotron.
Mr. Byron, who was standing behind Ms. Cabot with his arms wrapped around her chest, hurriedly ducked out of the frame and took cover behind a barrier in the stands. His companion opted to throw her hands over her face and turn her back to the camera. The awkward scene prompted the band’s frontman, Chris Martin, to quip: “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Mr. Byron has been at the helm of the software development company — which is valued at an estimated $1.3 billion — since July 2023, according to his LinkedIn page. Mr. Byron and his wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, both 50, live in Northborough, Massachusetts, just about an hour’s drive from the concert venue in Foxborough, according to public records reported by Newsweek.
Ms. Cabot, who lists the surname Thornby in brackets on her LinkedIn page, assumed her post as chief people officer just nine months ago. In her LinkedIn bio, she says, “I lead by example and win trust with employees of all levels, from CEOs to managers to assistants.” She also describes herself as “a passionate people leader known for building award-winning cultures from the ground up for fast-growing startups and multi-national corporations.”
In a press release for Ms. Cabot’s hiring, Mr. Byron praised his new employee’s “exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies.”
The concert mishap — which has yet to be publicly addressed by Mr. Byron, Ms. Cabot, or the company — has prompted users to dig up the social media accounts of those involved and inundate their pages with critical or, in the case of Ms. Byron, sympathetic messages.
A post that Mr. Byron recently shared on his LinkedIn was flooded with messages like “Shame on you buddy” and “Resign cheater.” One user quipped: “Wow that astronomer company seems really cool! Wonder what type of stuff their CEO likes to enjoy in his free time, maybe some music?”
Others flocked to his company’s page on Google, leaving searing reviews like, “This such a bad look on Andy, Kristin, anyone who knew about the affair, and now it’s on the company,” and, “I’m uncomfortable with the mid shift pat down.” One user used the opportunity to express interest in applying for the position of “CEO or Manager,” adding, “I hear [the] current CEO is very hands on with its employees.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
