Standard not met: What Astronomer said on CEO Andy Byron's Coldplay kiss cam row
The dramatic footage surfaced on the internet and became the subject of memes, mockery, criticism and allegations of cheating. In response to the online storm, Astronomer placed Byron on leave and later announced his resignation.NEW: CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristin Cabot from Astronomer caught having an affair on the jumbotron at Coldplay's Boston concert pic.twitter.com/QloKq6n5NO— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) July 17, 2025'As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding," the company said.'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," Astronomer added.Both Byron and Cabot are reportedly married. While Bryon is married to respected educator Megan Kerrigan, Cabot is reportedly married to Privateer Rum CEO Andrew Cabot. According to his LinkedIn profile, Andy Byron held senior leadership roles at companies including Lacework, Cybereason, Fuze, BMC Software, BladeLogic, and VeriCenter before becoming CEO of Astronomer. He is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, Associate Director at the Bancroft School, and the couple reportedly lives in New York with their two children.Following the public backlash, Megan reportedly removed her last name from her Facebook profile before deactivating it.Kristin Cabot serves as Chief People Officer at Astronomer, the company behind Astro, a data orchestration and observability platform built on Apache Airflow.- Ends
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
What the 'first photos' of Astronomer's ex-HR head Kristin Cabot since Coldplay 'Kiss Cam' scandal reveal
Astronomer 's former HR head Kristin Cabot was reportedly spotted by Daily Mail. The publication is said to have obtained exclusive photos of Cabot as she watered her plants outside her Rye, New Hampshire, home. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now It is said to be Kristin Cabot's first sighting since being caught in the Coldplay 'Kiss Cam' scandal with Astronomer's former CEO . As per the pictures, Cabot was seen without her wedding ring. Kristin's ring could be reportedly seen in previous photos. As per reports, Cabot appears to be married to Privateer Rum CEO Andrew Cabot. The two are seen together in family photos shared online with two children. Cabot reportedly shares a $2.2 million New England-style home that they purchased together in February, according to property records obtained by The Post. The loan papers are said to mention them as Husband and Wife. Media reports also claim that Cabot and Andrew have shared the same residence since at least 2023. Reports of her sighting come hours after she resigned from her post as Director of People at Astronomer. What Astronomer said on Kristin Cabot's resignation A spokesperson confirmed Cabot's departure in a brief statement from the company. 'I can confirm that Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer. She has resigned,' a rep from the AI software company told The Post. TMZ was first to report her departure. Kristin's resignation came a few days after Andy Byron quit as Astronomer's CEO on July 19, just a day after their photos at a Coldplay concert went viral. The two were captured hugging very closely on the concert's 'kiss cam' in a moment that almost took over the internet. The Cold Play's frontman, Chris Martin, called out the two former tech execs, saying, 'Whoa, look at these two,' as the camera panned to show Byron holding Cabot from behind. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.' Astronomer's new CEO on Coldplay 'kiss cam' scandal Astronomer's new CEO Pete DeJoy broke his silence on the Coldplay 'kiss cam' scandal in a post on LinkedIn. 'The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name,' DeJoy said. 'The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies – let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world – ever encounter,' he added. 'At Astronomer we have never shied away from challenges,' DeJoy said and went on to add, 'From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room.'
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Spectacle, privacy and sharing in the digital age
On a balmy evening in Boston, a Coldplay concert became the stage for an incident that reverberated far beyond the music. During a light-hearted 'kiss-cam' segment, the camera focused on two individuals — the CEO of Astronomer, and the firm's HR director. The startled reactions of the man and woman, captured by an audience member's smartphone, ignited a digital firestorm. Within hours, the video went viral, inciting speculation about an alleged affair. Both individuals were married, and the online frenzy culminated in the CEO's resignation. Fake apologies and doctored posts further muddied the waters, transforming a fleeting moment into a global morality narrative. The deeper issues At first glance, the Coldplay episode may seem like mere tabloid material. Yet it exposes deeper anxieties about privacy, spectacle and morality in our hyper-connected society. It prompts us to question not only media ethics and platform accountability but also the nature of spectatorship itself. When personal discomfort becomes meme material and moral commentary, we must inquire. What is the cost of our participation? Media theorist Mark Andrejevic describes this as 'lateral surveillance', where individuals monitor and expose one another through digital instruments. In his seminal work, iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era, he identifies this as a characteristic of participatory culture, distinct from institutional surveillance. The Coldplay video was likely shared in jest or curiosity, but its viral spread, propelled by platforms such as Instagram and X, led to reputational damage. Shoshana Zuboff's concept of surveillance capitalism elucidates this phenomenon — platforms are designed to amplify emotionally provocative and ambiguous content. The video's success lay not in truth but in its ability to provoke speculation. Its virality was orchestrated by algorithms that favour engagement over ethics. India has seen similar episodes. In 2023, a video of a couple in the Delhi Metro went viral, leading to harsh trolling and moral policing, targeting the woman. Such incidents, often involving women, marginalised groups, or the economically disadvantaged, reveal a pattern: digital virality thrives on indignation and voyeurism, with disproportionate harm to the vulnerable. These instances highlight a key issue: visibility does not equate to consent. Philosopher Helen Nissenbaum's theory of 'contextual integrity' helps explain this breach: privacy is not secrecy, but control over how personal information circulates within specific contexts. A concertgoer does not anticipate a transient expression to become global content. While recording may appear innocuous, mass dissemination, amplified by algorithms, disrupts those contextual boundaries. The public reaction to the Coldplay video ranged from humour to moral condemnation, crafting an unverified narrative of infidelity. Daniel Trottier describes this as 'digital vigilantism' — a sort of informal justice where online users act as moral enforcers. Unlike formal systems, it relies on speculation, with rapid and often irreversible consequences. The issue of verification The function of legacy media in such incidents is increasingly troubling. News organisations, often influenced by social media trends, tend to amplify viral content without adequate verification. In the Coldplay case, reports of the CEO's resignation largely reflected online narratives, with minimal independent investigation. This reversal, where publication precedes verification, challenges the ethical foundation of journalism. Should private individuals be subjected to public scrutiny based simply on unverified social media content? What evidential standards should apply? Platform design exacerbates these issues. Algorithms on TikTok, Instagram, and X prioritise emotionally charged content, emphasising engagement over accuracy. As media scholar Nancy Baym observes, platforms shape not just what we consume but how we interact, encouraging performance over reflection. In India, where digital literacy is inconsistent, and caste, gender, and religious hierarchies persist, the risks are amplified. Viral videos of Dalit or tribal creators, for instance, often provoke casteist backlash, turning digital visibility into vulnerability. The Coldplay episode also reveals how easily reputational harm can outpace facts. Legal protections such as privacy and defamation laws exist, but their ability to address algorithmically driven harm remains limited, particularly across borders. Reflect on digital behaviour How do we traverse this complex terrain? First, public awareness around the ethics of digital sharing must grow. What one finds 'share-worthy' may profoundly harm another. Educational initiatives, especially in schools and communities, can help foster empathy and self-restraint. Second, platforms must take greater responsibility for promoting morally ambiguous content. There is an urgent need for technologies that flag, contextualise, or slow the spread of sensitive videos. Third, journalism must reaffirm its gatekeeping role, prioritising verification and proportionality over viral allure. Most importantly, we as users must reflect on our own digital behaviour. The line between witnessing and exposing is razor-thin, and our choices to record, post, or comment carry consequences beyond the moment. The Coldplay kiss-cam incident is not an outlier but part of a broader cultural shift, where spectacle frequently overrides sensitivity. As India and the world contend with the complexities of the digital public sphere, we must ask this: do we want a society that treats every moment as content, or one that prioritises empathy and responsibility? Our digital behaviour reflects our moral compass. In an age where any face in a crowd can become viral, the ethics of sharing call for urgent reflection. Only through mindful engagement can we build a digital culture that respects dignity. Madhavi Ravikumar is with the Department of Communication, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
Gwyneth Paltrow helps turn Astronomer's infamy on its head
To take control of a scandal that turned a previously obscure data-operations firm into a household name practically overnight requires some skillful cunning. And, it turns out, the Hollywood A-listers Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Reynolds . On Friday, Astronomer — the technology company whose married CEO was caught on video at a Coldplay concert canoodling with a human resources executive at the firm who is not his wife — capitalized on the heightened attention when it released a video response featuring Paltrow as a 'temporary spokesperson.' As in: Paltrow, the ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and the woman who introduced the world to the concept of 'conscious uncoupling,' became the face of a niche tech startup with roughly 300 employees operating in 'a small corner of the data and AI world,' as the interim CEO described it in a LinkedIn post. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,' Paltrow says directly to camera in a video posted on Astronomer's social channels. The first question then appears on-screen: 'OMG! What the actual f' 'Yes!' she responds, a hint of knowing and exasperation in her voice. 'Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow .' She adds: 'We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation .' Viewers were given a peek at what Astronomer actually does, a move that 'was quite clever, I must say,' said Michel Pham, a business professor and marketing strategy expert at Columbia Business School. For companies that abruptly find themselves embroiled in scandal, he explained, using humor to capitalize on the spotlight requires a deft touch. It's little surprise that the tongue-in-cheek ad has since ricocheted across the internet. On Instagram, the video has so far received over 64,000 likes. (For context, Astronomer's previous post, about a recent data conference in Berlin, had received 135 likes as of Monday afternoon.) On YouTube, the ad has been viewed more than half a million times. The video was produced by Reynolds' production company, Maximum Effort, the company confirmed in an email statement, but it's unclear who reached out to whom or when, exactly, the company was hired. Neither Astronomer nor representatives for Paltrow responded to requests for comment. Reynolds founded Maximum Effort in 2018 and has since cultivated a reputation for creating snarky advertising and viral content that the actor calls 'fastvertising.' 'A lot of times we're working really quickly, working with limited budgets, but we're also acknowledging and playing with the cultural landscape,' he said in a 2022 interview with The Washington Post. 'We try to create marketing that's moving at the exact same speed as culture is.' When companies face negative scandals that are related to their core product, like a mechanical failure in a car, for instance, there is little space for humor, Pham said. 'But in this case, this was about an affair and most people, I think, understand that affairs happen and that it doesn't necessarily compromise what this brand does.' That gave the company leeway to play along with the conversation. Pham pointed to an example in Britain where, in 2018, fast food chain KFC had no chickens to serve its customers because of supply-chain disruptions and was forced to close hundreds of outlets across the country. Days later, instead of an apology statement from an executive, the company took out newspaper ads with a simple message. 'FCK' — an anagram of its own name and a thinly veiled obscenity — followed by a tagline: 'A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It's not ideal.' 'They were pretty candid and they acknowledged the problem,' Pham said. Another example of a brand turning infamy into a positive came in 2019 in a move again orchestrated by Maximum Effort. When exercise equipment manufacturer Peloton released a holiday ad showing a man giving his wife a bike, the 30-second spot was swiftly criticized for being sexist and dystopian. Within hours of its release, Maximum Effort reached out to the woman in the commercial, who came to be known as 'Peloton Wife,' and a few days later, she starred in an ad that showed her drinking Reynolds' gin with her friends, toasting 'to new beginnings.' In 2014, Prince pulled off a similar marketing twist, or what comedian Dave Chappelle described as a marketing 'judo move.' In 2004, Chappelle had played Prince, dressed in a 'Purple Rain'-era ruffled suit, in a sketch on 'Chappelle's Show.' When Prince released the single 'Breakfast Can Wait' almost a decade later, he used a picture of Chappelle dressed as him. 'You make fun of Prince in a sketch and he'll just use you in his album cover,' Chappelle told 'Tonight Show' host Jimmy Fallon. 'What am I going to do? Sue him for using a picture of me dressed up like him?' he said. 'That's checkmate right there.'
