An HR boss who was unwittingly caught on the big screen at a Coldplay concert hugging her CEO, said ‘the harassment has never ended’ since her image went viral.
Kristin Cabot has publicly addressed the video that surfaced of her embracing Andy Byron, then-CEO of tech firm Astronomer, at the show in July before they both quickly ducked and hid from view.
Ms Cabot, 53, the firm’s chief people officer, resigned after Mr Byron stepped down then the company announced he would be placed on leave and his conduct investigated.
Ms Cabot told the Times that she is now job-hunting but has been informed that she is “probably unemployable”.
The video of the couple swaying to music at the Foxborough, Mass., show — as well as attempting to hide from view — prompted strangers and media outlets around the world to share it in largely lighthearted mockery after Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, told onlookers: “Either they’re having an affair or she’s not allowed to go out here.”
It was viewed millions of times, shared widely on platforms and they were the subject of many jokes. The internet had largely moved on within a few days, but for Ms Cabot, the nightmare was just beginning.
NEW: Astronomer CEO caught on camera with his HR chief during a Coldplay concert in Boston.
The pair was seen rushing to cover their faces in horror when they realized they were on the big screen.
“Oh what… either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” said Coldplay’s… pic.twitter.com/RgWdCTVdKE
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 17, 2025
“I was the meme of memes,” Ms Cabot, said “I was the worst HR manager in HR history.”
Ms Cabot was separated from her husband, who was also at the concert.
On the Ofcom interview, she told them that she had not been in a sexual relationship with Mr Byron and they never even kissed before that night – although she said she’d developed a “crush” on her boss.
“I made a mistake and I had some high noons (alcohol) and danced — I acted inappropriately with my boss,” she said, admitting, “I took accountability and I gave up my career for that.
As to why she has decided to go public now, Ms Cabot says “It’s not over for me, and it’s not over for my kids.” The harassment never ended”.
Her two children are too embarrassed to have their mother pick them up from school or attend sports games, she said.
“They’re mad at me. And they can hate me for the rest of their lives — I have to live with that.”
Ms Cabot questioned was Mr Byron receiving the same treatment in the aftermath of the scandal, according to the Times.
“As a woman, is the way I think about it — as women always do, I assume I took most of the hit. There were things like ‘gold-digger’ or I ‘slept my way to the top’, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.
“I had worked so hard to get rid of that all my life and now I was being charged with it.
At the height of it all, her appearance, body, face and clothing were red under the spotlight in a way that made her fair game for many high-profile celebrity attacks by women – Whoopi Goldberg among them. Even actress Gwyneth Paltrow (formerly married to Chris Martin) appeared in a tongue-in-cheek promotion video for Astronomer.
Ms Cabot told the New York Times she was subject to threatening messages after the incident, such as one from someone who said they knew where her shopped and wrote: “I’m coming for you”.
“My kids were scared that I would die and they would die,” she said, and her family started to fear public places and social functions.
“Women were the harshest judges,” she told The New York Times, with all of her in person bullying and most of her calls and messages coming from women.
Her personal information was posted online (a practice known as doxxing) and for weeks she received up to 600 calls a day, The New York Times reported. Outside her house, the paparazzi was a “parade,” and she received 50 or 60 death threats, she said.
But things are beginning to change. Ms Cabot has located therapists for her children, and she recently began leaving the house to play tennis.
While she and Mr Byron stayed in contact briefly, providing each other with “crisis management advice”, Ms Cabot said they had agreed that “talking to one another was going to make it too difficult for everyone involved to move on and heal” – and the pair have not spoken since.
Mr Byron, for his part, has not given any public comment.
A fake comment allegedly from him, complete with Coldplay lyrics, went viral after the concert and Astronomer had to put out a statement of their own to let everyone know he hadn’t said anything.
“Astronomer values and culture are the same guiding principles that we have had since our humble beginnings,” the statement said. “Our leaders should be held to a higher standard, in terms of how they act and how they respond.
The company added that “Andy Byron has submitted his resignation, which the Board of Directors has accepted.”
