Fired HR Executive Opens Up About Viral Coldplay Kiss-Cam Incident
Kristin Cabot, the former HR executive who lost her job at Astronomer after being caught on Coldplay's kiss-cam with CEO Andy Byron, has shared new insights in a candid interview on The Oprah Podcast. Cabot emphasized that the public perception from the viral TikTok video does not reflect her true self, stating, "There is a different version of me than what people saw on a TikTok video."
The Fateful Night at Gillette Stadium
Cabot recounted the events leading up to the infamous moment at the Coldplay concert in Boston, attended by 55,000 people. She revealed that her daughter informed her that her estranged husband, Andrew, would also be at the event. Despite knowing about her "very close" professional and social relationship with Byron, Cabot admitted she wondered if running into her ex would be "weird."
"I was walking into the concert and my daughter messaged me and said, 'Oh it’s so great that you and Andrew are both at Coldplay,'" Cabot told Oprah Winfrey. "And in my mind I thought, well that’s — is this going to be weird if he sees me with Andy, like, if I run into him?"
She initially dismissed the concern, thinking the odds of an encounter were low in such a large crowd. However, she later reflected, "It would have been better at the end of the day if I’d just run into him."
Defending the Relationship and Career Fallout
Cabot insisted that her ex-husband would have been unfazed by seeing her with Byron, citing their long-standing professional closeness. "(My ex) knows how closely Andy and I worked together, he knows we socialized — like, got lunches and got drinks. It was fine," she said. She described her work dynamics as involving shared desks with CEOs, emphasizing the intimate nature of such roles.
Despite this, the kiss-cam footage quickly went viral, exacerbated by Cabot bolting from the embrace and covering her face, while Byron attempted to duck out of sight. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin humorously remarked at the time, "Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy."
The scandal led to immediate professional consequences. Cabot was fired from Astronomer, and she revealed that Byron claimed he and his wife were separated and planning a divorce, which he said had been "many years in the making." Cabot has since filed for divorce from her husband, while Byron has never publicly addressed the incident and appears to still be married.
Accountability and Reflections
In the interview, Cabot maintained that she and Byron did not have a sexual relationship, with the kiss being a one-time occurrence fueled by alcohol. "I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss," she admitted to the New York Times in a previous interview. She acknowledged that the situation looked "so cliché and so bad" from a professional standpoint.
"And it’s not nothing," Cabot added. "And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay." The incident has sparked widespread discussion about workplace boundaries and the repercussions of personal actions in the digital age.
