It was the Coldplay kiss cam moment that caused cringes around the world.
The CEO of a unicorn tech company and his head of human resources were caught on camera in a not-so-work-appropriate moment that has since gone viral. Now the two executives, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, are facing public (and workplace) backlash.
What happened at the Coldplay concert?
On Wednesday evening at Gillette Stadium near Boston, a popular segment of Coldplay’s show took an unexpected turn. The band’s camera crew singles out people in the crowd and puts them up on the jumbotron, and lead singer Chris Martin improvises a song. This time around, the camera landed on a snuggling couple who quickly tried to hide their faces. Martin quipped, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
A video of the moment quickly went viral, and as the video spread, it revealed that Martin might have been on to something. The man in the video was Byron, and the woman was the company’s human resources chief, Cabot. The problem? Byron is married to someone else.
What is Astronomer?
Astronomer is a private data infrastructure startup that reached “unicorn” status in 2022 with a $1 billion or more evaluation.
According to the company’s LinkedIn page, “Astronomer empowers data teams to bring mission-critical analytics, AI, and software to life.”
Has Astronomer responded?
On Friday evening, Astronomer posted on X that Byron has been placed on leave.
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. pic.twitter.com/VfgWPnfycl
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 19, 2025
Axios reports that Cabot was also placed on leave while the company investigates the matter.
Previously, an Astronomer spokesperson told Newsweek and the New York Post that a supposed apology from Byron, which had been circulating online, was fake.
The fake apology from Byron was posted on X, with the imposter writing that they wanted to apologize to his wife, family, and colleagues, and noted, “I am a Coldplay fan. And not just of the first two albums. I also like the recent stuff.”
Another fake post, attributed to Coldplay, read: “Starting with our next show, we’re introducing camera-free audience sections for people and their sidepieces.”
Related: IBM Replaced Hundreds of HR Workers With AI, According to Its CEO
How does a CEO scandal like this affect the workplace?
The incident creates potential legal troubles and a crisis of leadership for the company, David Rice, HR expert at People Managing People, told Entrepreneur via email.
“The big issue is the example that it sets. Obviously, a CEO should know better. But the fact that it’s with the chief people officer is even worse,” Rice wrote. “She should definitely know better, and that is going to lead to a complete mistrust in HR, no matter what happens next.”
“Both are on the hook here, and no online apology is going to make this go away,” says Rice, pointing out why companies need to have very clear HR policies about inter-office relationships and the consequences of not adhering to them.
It was the Coldplay kiss cam moment that caused cringes around the world.
The CEO of a unicorn tech company and his head of human resources were caught on camera in a not-so-work-appropriate moment that has since gone viral. Now the two executives, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, are facing public (and workplace) backlash.
What happened at the Coldplay concert?
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