Astronomer CEO, HR Head Face Coldplay Kiss-Cam Scandal

[ad_1] It was the Coldplay kiss cam second that precipitated cringes all over the world.

The CEO of a unicorn tech firm and his head of human assets have been caught on digicam in a not-so-work-appropriate second that has since gone viral. Now the 2 executives, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief Individuals Officer Kristin Cabot, are dealing with public (and office) backlash.

What occurred on the Coldplay live performance? On Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium close to Boston, a well-liked phase of Coldplay's present took an sudden flip. The band's digicam crew singles out folks within the crowd and places them up on the jumbotron, and lead singer Chris Martin improvises a music. This time round, the digicam landed on a snuggling couple who rapidly tried to cover their faces. Martin quipped, "Both they're having an affair or they're simply very shy."

A video of the second rapidly went viral, and because the video unfold, it revealed that Martin might need been on to one thing. The person within the video was Byron, and the girl was the corporate's human assets chief, Cabot. The issue? Byron is married to another person.

What's Astronomer? Astronomer is a personal knowledge infrastructure startup that reached "unicorn" standing in 2022 with a $1 billion or extra analysis.

In keeping with the corporate's LinkedIn web page, "Astronomer empowers knowledge groups to carry mission-critical analytics, AI, and software program to life."

Has Astronomer responded? On Friday night, Astronomer posted on X that Byron has been positioned on depart.

Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy is presently serving as interim CEO given Andy Byron has been positioned on depart.

We'll share extra particulars as applicable within the coming days. pic.twitter.com/VfgWPnfycl

— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 19, 2025 Axios experiences that Cabot was additionally positioned on depart whereas the corporate investigates the matter.

Beforehand, an Astronomer spokesperson advised Newsweek and the New York Publish {that a} supposed apology from Byron, which had been circulating on-line, was faux.

The faux apology from Byron was posted on X, with the imposter writing that they wished to apologize to his spouse, household, and colleagues, and famous, "I'm a Coldplay fan. And never simply of the primary two albums. I additionally just like the current stuff."

One other faux put up, attributed to Coldplay, learn: "Beginning with our subsequent present, we're introducing camera-free viewers sections for folks and their sidepieces."

Associated: IBM Changed Tons of of HR Employees With AI, In keeping with Its CEO

How does a CEO scandal like this have an effect on the office? The incident creates potential authorized troubles and a disaster of management for the corporate, David Rice, HR skilled at Individuals Managing Individuals, advised Entrepreneur through e mail.

"The large subject is the instance that it units. Clearly, a CEO ought to know higher. However the truth that it is with the chief folks officer is even worse," Rice wrote. "She ought to undoubtedly know higher, and that's going to steer to an entire distrust in HR, it doesn't matter what occurs subsequent."

"Each are on the hook right here, and no on-line apology goes to make this go away," says Rice, declaring why firms have to have very clear HR insurance policies about inter-office relationships and the results of not adhering to them.

It was the Coldplay kiss cam second that precipitated cringes all over the world.

The CEO of a unicorn tech firm and his head of human assets have been caught on digicam in a not-so-work-appropriate second that has since gone viral. Now the 2 executives, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief Individuals Officer Kristin Cabot, are dealing with public (and office) backlash.