Latest news with #Coldplayconcert
CNA
18 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - The Wellness Hour - HPB's workplace wellness programme
IT company CEO Andy Byron, captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert, has resigned. The incident raises questions about public surveillance, workplace boundaries and how quickly private moments can become public in the digital age. Did he need to resign or could a solid crisis communication plan be enough? Hairianto Diman chatted with Hazel Westwood, Crisis and Reputation Management expert to find out.
CNA
a day ago
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Did CEO Andy Byron need to resign after viral ‘kiss cam' controversy?
IT company CEO Andy Byron, captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert, has resigned. The incident raises questions about public surveillance, workplace boundaries and how quickly private moments can become public in the digital age. Did he need to resign or could a solid crisis communication plan be enough? Hairianto Diman chatted with Hazel Westwood, Crisis and Reputation Management expert to find out.
Fast Company
a day ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Astronomer CEO resigns after viral Coldplay concert video
The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned. Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc., according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company Saturday. '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,' the company said in its post on LinkedIn. The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral. A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video. The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday. Lead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his 'Jumbotron Song,' when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' he joked. Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a U.S.-based company and the woman as its chief people officer. Pete DeJoy, Astronomer's cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byron's successor. Most concert venues warn attendees that they can be filmed It's easy to miss, but most concert venues have signs informing the audience that they could be filmed during the event. Look for them on the walls when you arrive and around the bar areas or toilets. It's common practice especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert films. The venue in this case, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, also has a privacy policy online which states: 'When you visit our location or attend or participate in an event at our location, we may capture your image, voice and/or likeness, including through the use of CCTV cameras and/or when we film or photograph you in a public location.' Once captured, a moment can be shared widely 'They probably would have got away with it if they hadn't reacted,' said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. And by the time the alleged identities emerged on social media, it hit a classic nerve around 'leaders acting like the rules don't apply to them,' she added. Still, Taylor and others stress how quickly such a video can lead to an internet search to find the people involved — and note that it's important to remember that such 'doxing' isn't just reserved for famous people. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances, such as the rising adoption of artificial intelligence, have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in a viral video today. 'It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us — and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction, to a gigantic surveillance system,' said Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media. 'When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us.'
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Kisses, Coldplay and consequences: Is monogamy out of style?
Picture this: you are the CEO of a data orchestration company, who is supposedly tuned into patterns. Yet somehow, you are oblivious to the iPhones orbiting your VIP box at a Coldplayconcert. During the Boston leg of their 2025 tour, Chris Martin spotlighted a cosy couple on the jumbotron — none other than Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot. His cheeky quip? 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy.' And with that, ColdplayGate was born. X (formerly Twitter) did what it does best, erupted. Memes flew. 'Never take your affair to a Coldplay concert,' posted @tribune. There was outrage over the pair's married status, and even more over their total lack of stealth. Andy Byron resigned on July 20, after boardroom rage and public spectacle. In 2025, it seems, betrayal is full HD and trending by morning. Infidelity is no new comet, but technology has made it shine. Burner phones have evolved into encrypted WhatsApp chats and sneaky Instagram DMs. Discretion is promised, drama is delivered. That Coldplay clip has 34 million views and counting. One user quipped, 'ALL YOU HAD TO DO was no-sell it,' while another pointed out the irony of the HR head flouting the very ethics they likely helped draft. Meanwhile, Andy Byron's wife, Megan, was flooded with Facebook messages before she quietly vanished offline. Love in the time of surveillance capitalism is brutal. Closer home But while the western world processed its popcorn-worthy scandal, India was quietly topping its own charts. Enter: Kanchipuram. Famous for temples and silk saris, the town now holds the rather unexpected title of India's most unfaithful city, according to Ashley Madison's June 2025 data. From #17 last year (according to Ashley Madison's winter data) to #1 now, Kanchipuram's climb reveals one thing: infidelity is not confined to metros. Smaller cities like Dehradun, Kamrup and Raigarh (which were also on the list) are proving that non-traditional relationships thrive far beyond the urban elite. A 2024 Gleeden survey revealed that 55% of married Indians admit to cheating. Tier 1 and 2 cities lead, thanks to anonymity and easy access to apps. A 2025 Ashley Madison–YouGov survey placed India alongside Brazil with the world's highest infidelity rate at 53%. But while western cultures often attribute cheating to opportunity, Indian affairs are more emotionally charged. According to Gleeden, 77% of Indian women cite boredom, and 72% report no regret. Perhaps surprisingly, it is educated, urban Indian women aged 30–60 who dominate infidelity apps. Financial independence, autonomy and — let's face it — monotony have reshaped their approach to relationships. So, are we in the middle of an infidelity boom? Not quite. Data like the General Social Survey in the US suggests that cheating rates have largely plateaued. What has shifted, dramatically, is visibility and with it, perception. In 2025, infidelity is not so much on the rise as it is in the spotlight. Where once affairs lived in the shadows — hidden in office corridors and 'business trips' — they now play out in pixels. From WhatsApp leaks to TikToks to 4K jumbotron footage, the Internet has evolved from a space for flirtation to a global surveillance network. A single kiss can now unravel careers, marriages, and public reputations within 48 hours. But culturally, our responses remain complex, and at times, deeply contradictory. Accountability is uneven. Andy Byron resigned within days of ColdplayGate breaking. Kristin Cabot, his HR counterpart and co-star in the scandal, has yet to face confirmed consequences, sparking debates about gender, power, and institutional double standards. Is one punished for optics and the other protected for silence? Meanwhile, public opinion is split between moral panic and meme-making. Some mourn the decline of values. Others tweet, 'Don't get caught during Fix You,' and move on. Relationships themselves have adapted. Many couples now treat infidelity not as an instant deal-breaker but as a signpost of emotional drift, unmet needs, or sheer fatigue. Some split. Others go to therapy. Many sweep it under the rug like last night's takeaway. The language has shifted too — 'open,' 'ethical non-monogamy,' and 'situationships' now coexist with old-school commitment. In fact, apps like Gleeden and Ashley Madison thrive on this blurred space between desire and discretion. What we are witnessing is not a moral decline — it is a perceptual shift. Infidelity in 2025 is less taboo, more talked about, and oddly, more marketable. It is the next Netflix docu-drama, the trending clip on X, the topic over drinks. And as personal choices become public property, even private betrayals get branded. So no, we are not cheating more. We are just getting caught better. And judged differently. It is no longer enough to cover your tracks, you will need to watch the crowd, the camera, and the cloud. And honestly, maybe just pick a different concert.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lawmakers join Coldplay kiss cam meme craze
Lawmakers engaged in political satire Thursday while poking fun at a camera-shy couple recorded at a recent Coldplay concert. The two could be seen embracing until their faces flashed across the jumbotron, which sent them diving for cover. 'Either they're having an affair or they're very shy,' Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer, said during the spotlighted moment Wednesday in Foxborough, Mass. Several members of Congress took screenshots from the video of the couple and mocked their expressions with musing captions. 'Commie Mamdani holding @KathyHochul headed for re-election in 2026,' Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) wrote in a Thursday post on social platform X with an image of the couple, referring to New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. 'Voters know Commie Mamdani is a direct result of Kathy Hochul's failed Far Left leadership of the NY Democrat Party,' she later added in a Friday post. Democrats also chimed in. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) shared the video but with the faces of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump pasted in, made to look like Epstein is holding Trump. 'Trump on camera when asked about his close personal ties with Jeffrey Epstein,' Moore wrote on X, jabbing at the Trump administration's backlash over unreleased files kept by the deceased financier. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) reposted an image of himself being held by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). 'Who made this?' he asked. Following the awkward moment on camera, several fake accounts have posted a counterfeit apology letter from the man caught in the clip and a fraudulent message from the Coldplay band. The identities of the two in the video remain unconfirmed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
