Never would I have thought, here in the grand year of 2025, salacious gossip would break out as the result of a Coldplay concert. But, earlier this week at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium, Chris Martin spilled the tea on a current affair. A kiss cam caught Andy Byron, the married CEO of data infrastructure company Astronomer, in an embrace with the firm's HR chief Kristin Cabot, who is not his wife. As you no doubt saw by now, the coworkers tried to hide as tens of thousands of concertgoers watched on Gillette's big screen. "Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy," Coldplay frontman Chris Martin quipped. As video footage of the awkward moment went super viral the morning after the show, the internet had a field day with memes and Byron’s wife dropped his last name from her Facebook profile. Now there are workplace consequences for the two Coldplay fans at the center of the story.
On Friday, Astronomer announced that its board is launching an investigation. The company also shut down some misinformation, confirming that an alleged statement from Byron that went viral yesterday was fake and that the grinning witness in the video is not another Astronomer employee named Alyssa Stoddard. Byron and Cabot, who can you see on the company's About page, have been placed on leave, according to Axios; today's statement was delayed because of "Byron's slow resignation and exit package negotiations."
Here's what Astronomer posted:
Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability.
The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.
Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video. Andy Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect.
Some other incidental details about ColdplayGate you might have missed:
• Chris Martin, who got a laugh with his remarks at Foxborough, took an improv comedy class a few days before the show. Coincidence?
• Another clip from the concert revealed what Martin said right after the incident: "Oh shit, I hope we didn’t do something bad."
• Martin to some kiss cam subjects later in the show: "Are you two a legitimate couple?"
• A former colleague of Byron told NYPost that he was a “toxic” boss and that former employees are "laughing their ass off."
• Red Sox manager Alex Cora was at the show too.
• This would not happen at a National show.
UPDATE It was announced on July 24 that Head Of HR Kristin Cabot has resigned as well
Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability.The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional… pic.twitter.com/rfrAQ5bygy
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 18, 2025
UPDATE: Byron has resigned. Here is Astronomer’s statement on Saturday (July 19):
As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.
Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.
Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI.
While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.
We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.
And at Coldplay's first show since the incident, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI on July 19, Chris Martin offered a heads up before turning on the kiss cam.
