Kristin Cabot breaks her silence on the Coldplay kiss-cam scandal and the backlash that followed

Kristin Cabot breaks her silence on the Coldplay kiss-cam scandal and the backlash that followed

Former Astronomer HR chief Kristin Cabot has spoken publicly for the first time about the viral “Coldplay kiss-cam” incident that upended her career, sparked a social media firestorm and left her personally and professionally scarred.

The controversy began on July 16, 2025, when a video from a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, showed Cabot and then-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron on the stadium’s “kiss cam” jumbotron. The pair appeared close and embraced, prompting frontman Chris Martin to joke on stage that they might be having an affair. The short clip quickly went viral, generating millions of views and igniting speculation about their relationship.

Both executives were already separated from their spouses at the time, but that detail mattered little in the ensuing online backlash. Astronomer initially placed Byron and Cabot on administrative leave and launched an internal review. Within days, Byron resigned as CEO and Cabot soon followed, stepping down as chief human resources officer amid intense public scrutiny.

In interviews with The New York Times and The Times of London, Cabot, 53, acknowledged the moment was a “bad decision,” saying she and Byron had been having a few drinks — which she referred to as “a couple of High Noons” — and that the interaction was spontaneous rather than part of an ongoing affair. She said the concert moment was the first and only time they had kissed.

Cabot detailed how the fallout affected her life. She described daily online harassment and death threats, forcing her to bolster home security and prompting emotional distress for her and her teenage children. She said she felt “unemployable” and saw her years of professional achievements overshadowed by a single viral moment.

Despite the backlash, Cabot insisted she took responsibility for her actions and expressed a desire to turn her experience into a teaching moment. “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 told The New York Times.

Cabot also pushed back on narratives that exaggerated the situation. She said she and Byron maintained occasional contact in the months after the incident for “crisis management advice,” but that they ultimately chose to end communication in September 2025. She stressed that there was no ongoing personal relationship beyond the concert moment.

The Coldplay scandal, widely dubbed “Coldplaygate,” has since sparked broader conversations about privacy, social media judgment and the consequences of viral fame in the digital age.