Former HR Exec Speaks Out After Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal: ‘Bad Decision’

Kristin Cabot has spoken out about the viral Coldplay kiss cam moment that cost her and a CEO their jobs.

Kristin Cabot has spoken publicly for the first time about the viral Coldplay concert moment that upended her personal and professional life. In a recent New York Times profile, Cabot reflected on the incident that saw her caught on a stadium jumbotron kissing her boss, then Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, during a Coldplay show in Massachusetts earlier this year.

The moment spread rapidly online (even spawning its own video game), resulting in intense public scrutiny and ultimately saw both Cabot and Byron leave their jobs. Cabot, who was serving as Astronomer’s head of human resources at the time, described the experience as overwhelming and humiliating. “I was so embarrassed and so horrified,” she told the Times. “I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad.”

According to Cabot, the backlash after the Coldplay gig video hit the internet went far beyond criticism. She said the viral attention escalated into doxxing, leading to what she estimated were 500 to 600 phone calls a day and as many as 50 to 60 death threats. The scale of the harassment, she said, left her fearing for the safety of herself and her children.

Cabot maintained that she and Byron were not involved romantically before the Coldplay concert, stating that the kiss captured on camera was the first time anything physical happened. “I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,” she said. “And it’s not nothing. And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay. I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up. But you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them.”

She explained that she joined Astronomer in November 2024 and bonded with Byron over their respective separations from their spouses. Feeling a connection, she invited him to attend the Coldplay show with her and friends. On the way to the concert, she learned that her husband would also be in attendance. Despite that, she said she acted impulsively when the camera landed on them.

After the kiss aired on the jumbotron, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin remarked to the crowd, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.” Cabot recalled that she and Byron immediately fled to the bar. “We both just sat there with our heads in our hands, like, ‘What just happened?’”

Byron resigned from Astronomer a few days later. After an internal investigation, the company offered Cabot the option to remain employed, but she chose to step down later in July. She said she attempted to retreat from public view to focus on healing, but the online attention only intensified, with strangers tracking her routine.

In a seperate interview, Cabot said some of the harshest criticism came from other women, and she expressed disappointment in Gwyneth Paltrow, who had appeared in a promotional ad for Astronomer. Byron, Cabot’s ex-husband, and representatives for Astronomer declined to comment.

“I was such a fan of her company, which seemed to be about uplifting women. And then she did this,” she said “I thought, ‘How dare she after the beating she got for all the conscious uncoupling stuff’. What a hypocrite.”

Coldplay later leaned into the incident, with Martin warning audiences during subsequent shows that cameras might spotlight them during what he dubbed “The Jumbotron Song,” joking, “So please, if you haven’t done your makeup, do your makeup now.”