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A video taken at a Coldplay concert has gone viral, after it appeared to show an embrace between the CEO of Astronomer and his Chief HR Officer, who is not his wife.
Andy Byron, the tech CEO at the heart of the social media controversy, was caught on camera at a Boston-based Coldplay gig earlier this week.
The Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, joined Astronomer in November 2024 and was praised by Bryon in a LinkedIn post announcing the appointment for her “exceptional leadership” and HR expertise.
Watch the viral Coldplay CEO & CHRO ‘Kiss Cam’ clip
In the video, taken from a Coldplay performance at the Gillette Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, a ‘Kiss Cam’ style camera seemingly captured Astronomer’s chief exec hugging his HR chief from behind.
After realising they were on camera, Cabot covered her face, Byron ducked down out of shot, and onlookers nearby started to laugh.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, meanwhile, offered some running commentary. “Oh, look at these two,” he said. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”
As the video quickly gathered viral status, people took to social media to discover and reveal the identities of the pair, as well as the Facebook page of Bryon’s wife. The page has subsequently been deleted.
The clip, uploaded to TikTok on Thursday with the caption “trouble in paradise??” now has nearly 50 million views, 35,000 comments, and close to 1 million shares.
Since it was first posted, the viral video has whipped up a whirlwind of internet speculation, memes, and allegations of an affair. Bryon’s name alone was Googled over 2 million times on Thursday.
At the time of writing, Astronomer, Bryon, and Cabot have not yet publicly addressed the incident. Astronomer has turned off comments on its LinkedIn page, while Bryon and Cabot have deactivated their profiles.
‘Dunder Mifflin had better HR’ - Reactions to ‘ColdplayGate’ scandal
The deactivations didn’t come quickly enough to stop plenty of users from leaving comments under Bryon’s profile. “Lights did not guide Andy home,” one comment said.
Others located a post in which Bryon welcomed Cabot to the Chief People Officer role at Astronomer, hailing her “deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies.”
Social media users have not shied away from calling out the irony of Astronomer’s HR chief being at the center of workplace relationship allegations.
“Oh that’s gonna be one awkward board meeting,” one person commented under the viral TikTok.
Another individual claimed that a third individual captured in the clip appears to be Astronomer’s Senior Director of People, Alyssa Stoddard. “Looping in your coworker/direct report to your potential work affair while you both work in HR is WILD work,” they wrote.
Under recent posts on Stoddard’s LinkedIn account, reactions have flooded in. “So Dunder Mifflin had better HR policies than you guys regarding workplace relationships?” one comment reads.
Over on X, memes and reactions have been free-flowing, including a post featuring the screenshot of the clip with a LinkedIn ‘#opentowork’ banner laid over the top.
I'm sorry but someone had to do it pic.twitter.com/kBxIb94Cl8
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) July 17, 2025
Fake apology press releases and apology letters shared via X have also gained viral attention.
On LinkedIn, plenty of HR experts have criticized the alleged affair and conduct of Astronomer’s CEO and CPO, calling it a “lack of ethics” and an “HR case study for the ages.”
