Coldplay's Kiss Cam moment sparks lawsuit rumor, expert says Astronomer CEO's case would be ‘dead on arrival'

Fox News

5 days ago

Any lawsuit brought against Coldplay's Chris Martin over the Kiss Cam fiasco would be "dead on arrival," legal experts told Fox News Digital.
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigned from his role at his company after he was caught on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert with his arms around the head of his company's HR department, Kristin Cabot. Now, there are rumors swirling online that the former CEO is allegedly planning to sue Coldplay over the incident. However, there have been no legal filings yet, and experts tell Fox News Digital there's not much Byron can legally do about the situation.
"Andy Byron has zero grounds to sue, in fact, his lawsuit is dead on arrival," employment attorney Ron Zambrano explained to Fox News Digital.
"He had no reasonable expectation of privacy at an event like that. There's a waiver of any such rights at the point of ticket purchase (which itself is a contract /waiver)."
Fox News Digital reached out to Martin for comment.
During Coldplay's performance on July 16, Byron appeared on the Kiss Cam with his arms wrapped around a woman, who was later identified as Cabot. The two were shown during Martin's "The Jumbotron Song," where the singer improvises lyrics about the couples shown to the crowd.
Cabot immediately covered her face and turned away from the camera, while a stunned Byron ducked down and exited the frame. Martin then joked that, "Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy."
The moment ignited speculation of infidelity across social media as video of the exchange went viral.
On July 18, the tech firm posted a statement on X about the controversial incident.
"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 company shared. "The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly."
On July 20, Astronomer informed its social media followers that Byron had resigned from the company. Cabot later resigned from her role as chief people officer at Astronomer, a week after the video of her cuddling up with Byron went viral.
WATCH: COLDPLAY'S CHRIS MARTIN CATCHES COUPLE ON KISS CAM, JOKINGLY ASKS IF THEY'RE HAVING AFFAIR
"The idea that anyone goes to a concert of that magnitude and doesn't have the idea that there's a risk their face may be shown on a screen or a Jumbotron is 100% laughable," Zambrano said.
"He should listen to the advice he is probably getting to keep his head down and avoid torpedoing his future job prospects over something like this."
Byron doesn't have "a legal leg to stand on" regarding invasion of privacy claims either, trial attorney John W. Day told Fox News Digital.
"He had no expectation of privacy at the Coldplay concert because it was a public event with tens of thousands of other people present," the lawyer explained. "In public places there may be cameras, especially at a concert, and it's always possible you may be captured on video or still images."
According to Day, Byron's potential claim of defamation would also fail because he would have to prove Chris Martin "knew that he was not having an affair when he made his comment."
"The bottom line is, if you're in public, don't do anything you would not want your family to see on Instagram or other social media outlets," he said.
WATCH: COLDPLAY'S CHRIS MARTIN PLAYFULLY WARNS CROWD ABOUT JUMBOTRON AFTER KISS CAM SCANDAL
Martin seemingly poked fun at the viral moment days later. The lead singer chose to give fans a warning before showing people on the jumbotron.
"We'd like to say hello to some of you in the crowd," Martin said in a video posted on X, which sparked both cheers and laughter from the audience.
"How we're gonna do that is we're gonna use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen," said Martin while grinning. "So please, if you haven't done your makeup, do your makeup now."
Martin's ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, also poked fun at the Kiss Cam controversy by teaming up with Astronomer as their "temporary spokesperson."
"Thank you for your interest in Astronomer," the Goop founder said in the tongue-in-cheek video ad posted on Astronomer's social media page on July 15.
She added that she had been hired "on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer."
Paltrow noted that the company had "gotten a lot of questions in the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones."
The video then wipes to someone typing "OMG What the actual f" before the screen cuts it off and returns to Paltrow deadpanning, "Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow, unifying the experience of running data ML and AI pipelines at scale."
At the end of the ad, the actress added, "We will now be returning to what we do best — delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer."