Kristin Cabot and the Coldplay kiss cam that rocked a startup

On July 16, 2025, a 16 second jumbotron shot at Coldplay’s Gillette Stadium show captured Kristin Cabot, then Astronomer’s head of human resources, leaning into an embrace with CEO Andy Byron. The crowd saw their startled reaction, the clip raced across social platforms, and within days both leaders were out of their jobs as the company tried to contain the damage.

Who Kristin Cabot is

Cabot is a veteran people and culture executive with more than two decades in high growth software companies. She joined Astronomer in November 2024 as chief people officer, after senior roles at Neo4j and ObserveIT, where she worked through a merger with Proofpoint. At Astronomer, her remit was classic scale up work, recruit and retain talent, formalize policies, and maintain culture while the company pursued rapid growth in data infrastructure and AI.

The Coldplay moment, and how it spread

The concert was part of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. During an audience segment known for playful cutaways, the stadium camera landed on Byron and Cabot together. As the screen lingered, she turned away, he ducked out of frame, and lead singer Chris Martin quipped that the pair might be having an affair, or that they were simply very shy. Attendees posted the moment to TikTok and X within minutes, and views climbed into the tens of millions by the next day. Internet sleuths quickly named the couple and tied them to Astronomer.

What the company did next

Astronomer acknowledged the clip the following day, announced a formal review, and placed Byron on leave. On July 19, the board accepted his resignation and named cofounder Pete DeJoy as interim CEO while a search began for a permanent replacement. Cabot was also put on leave during the review. Five days later, on July 24, Astronomer confirmed that Cabot had resigned as well, and her profile disappeared from the leadership page. The company tried to shift attention back to its product work, while repeating a core message about expectations for leaders and accountability.

“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability,” the company said at the time.

Cabot’s account, months later

Cabot did not speak publicly during the summer, which left a vacuum filled by memes and speculation. In mid December 2025 she sat for interviews that gave her version of events. She described the moment as a bad decision after drinking at the show with friends, said both she and Byron were navigating separations at the time, and insisted the concert was the first and only time they kissed. She said she and Byron informed the board immediately, an internal review followed, and after that review she was asked to return but chose to resign, saying she could not credibly lead human resources amid the spotlight.

Cabot also detailed the aftermath for her family. She said she received a flood of phone calls and threats, that strangers recorded her at home, and that her children were frightened by the attention. She said she has since filed for divorce from her second husband. Byron has stayed silent in public, and has been seen in photographs with his wife in recent months.

The ethics debate inside companies

The episode ignited an immediate question for corporate leaders, what should policy say about workplace relationships, especially when both parties are senior. The facts that matter most inside companies are often simple, are there power imbalances, have disclosures been made, and is any employee disadvantaged. Many firms require contemporaneous disclosure to legal or HR, and prohibit relationships within a chain of command. Even if a relationship begins consensually, the perceived pressure that flows from a boss subordinate dynamic is hard to dispel. That is why boards tend to act quickly when the CEO is involved, the reputational risk is immediate and the legal exposure is real.

In Astronomer’s case, the company said its standards for leaders were not met, which was a signal to employees and customers. People managers reading this case will note the gap between policy on paper and the reality of human behavior at events outside work, which is where many relationships begin. Training tends to focus on conflicts and disclosures, yet culture work also needs to make consequences clear before a crisis arrives.

The internet pile on, and a double standard

The clip became shorthand for a summer of internet detective work, layered jokes, and brand hijacking, which magnified the personal cost for those involved. Cabot’s interviews highlight how fast an online pile on can escalate into harassment, doxxing, and real world safety concerns. She says the scorn was not evenly distributed, that as a woman leading HR she took the brunt of the vitriol, while her male counterpart stayed largely quiet. That perception has appeared in prior scandals, and it complicates any company response, since fairness in discipline does not guarantee fairness in public reaction.

At the same time, critics note that senior leaders are held to a higher bar precisely because they set norms. HR chiefs are expected to model policy compliance, and CEOs carry the company’s reputation wherever they go. When those two roles are central to the story, the optics are hard to overcome, even if an internal review does not find a clear policy violation before the resignations.

What remains unverified

Some details that circulated in July and August were wrong, including fabricated statements attributed to executives and false claims about who did and did not attend the show. The company publicly debunked at least one fake statement. The interviews in December clarified parts of the timeline, yet there are still gaps, including what the internal review concluded, and what, if any, policies were formally breached. Those records are private, which is typical for personnel matters.

Timeline of key events

What this means for other workplaces

For boards and founders

• Revisit codes of conduct and disclosure rules for relationships among executives, and communicate them clearly
• Define who investigates and who decides, and set timelines for interim actions
• Plan response language and employee communications for cases that mix viral attention with personnel rules

For HR leaders and managers

• Ensure disclosure channels are confidential, well understood, and fast
• Train managers on conflicts that arise outside the office, like conferences and concerts with clients or staff present
• Document decisions and rationale, which helps reduce speculation inside the company after the fact

For employees

• Know your company’s disclosure policies, especially around reporting lines and power dynamics
• Remember that public behavior at any event tied to work can become a company issue when the people involved lead teams

Where things stand now

Astronomer remains a private data infrastructure company focused on data orchestration and AI. Pete DeJoy continues as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. Cabot is no longer with the company. She says she regrets the decision that set this in motion, and she wants the public to distinguish between accountability and abuse. The larger lesson for companies is stark, policy clarity and consistent enforcement matter, and so does empathy for people caught in an internet wildfire.