Andy Byron, the CEO of the AI and data firm Astronomer has drawn ire in a turn of events which sent a jarring wave across the internet after a viral video emerged at a Coldplay concert of Coldplay. The video, which appeared earlier this week, depicted Byron being on a kiss cam with Kristin Cabot, the Chief People Officer at Astronomer. It was all in good fun, an amusing concert cameo, but what started off as a feature of fun has come to a serious personal and corporate issue.
Megan Kerrigan Byron, the wife of Byron, is an unwanted addition to the story who came into the picture when the viewers started to wonder about the relationship between Byron and Cabot. Days after the release of the video, Megan deleted surname Byron out of her Facebook profile and later erased her account totally. Some of the people online were claimed to have made direct comments on her posts citing the video and what it means.
The event took place at a Coldplay concert in the Gillette Stadium when a camera in the stadium landed on Byron and Cabot in the audience. The two have been observed close with arms around the other as the kiss cam continued hovering. Chris Martin, the Coldplay frontman, directly looked at the two and said, “You two”, and further joked, “They are having an affair or they are two very shy persons.” The video has been uploaded on Tik Tok where it has gone viral and has been shared widely on other social sites.
The social media audience was also quick to respond as most of them indicated that the behavior of the executives in the public domain cast doubts on their association and competence, especially considering that they run Astronomer as senior leaders. These responses were criticizing their actions and defending the wife of Byron who most people felt publicly disgraced.
Byron did so by surreptitiously deleting a LinkedIn post in which he had earlier praised Cabot. The announcement that was made prior to the concert had mentioned Cabot to be a proven leader and had praised her service to the company ever since her succession in November 2024.
There has not been any official public comment as yet by Byron or Cabot though this has done nothing to curb speculation. On the inside, there have been no notifications within Astronomer regarding disciplinary penalties, HR investigations, or similar occurrences due to the event.
Background on Key Individuals and Company:
- Andy Byron took over as CEO of Astronomer in July 2023.
- Kristin Cabot became Chief People Officer in November 2024.
- Astronomer is a New York-based company that specializes in artificial intelligence and data engineering solutions.
- The company is privately held and valued at around $1.2 million.
The viral moment has gone on to create wider concerns of workplace boundaries and executive behavior in spaces. The question expectedly arising in the minds of many observers is whether such a public display, and by top executives of one and the same organization, might or should lead to the engagement of internal corporate review tools.
The event also has a human aspect with the viewers calling out the effect into the family of Byron. Megan Kerrigan Byron, the lady who had earlier posted personal and family posts in Facebook, was inundated with messages following the spread of the video. There were some who sympathized and some who have said unsolicited remarks about her relationship. This pressure seems to have caused her not only to change the surname she uses on her profile, but also to deactivate her account in the future.
Although the story becomes more popular among the general population, it is indicative of a broader momentum in online populations lurking closely and responding to the actions of corporate executives when they are not in the boardroom. A personal exposure, as well as executive status, coupled with the viral media attention, has put both Byron and Cabot at the center of the reputational storm.
At this point, it is not clear what the future holds in terms of personal and professional consequences of those affected. What is clear, though, is that a short concert clip has since become a bigger discussion of ethnic issues in the workplace, behavior in public and online surveillance.
