What do you get when you mix one billion-dollar CEO, one HR queen, and a Coldplay concert in Boston? Apparently, a public meltdown. On July 16, Astronomer’s CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot found themselves locked in a maybe-more-than-friendly embrace on the jumbotron—yes, the actual kiss cam—during Coldplay’s set at Gillette Stadium. Within seconds, they went from background professionals to main character energy, as 60,000 strangers watched Byron wrap his arms around Cabot, only to panic-dodge behind the seats like a boy caught at his side chick’s baby shower. Oh, she knows HR alright.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin saw it happen live and tossed gasoline on the moment, joking, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.” The crowd roared. The internet exploded. The office Slack? Probably on fire.
Now, normally, people would clap and move on. But Byron is married. Public records show he lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, and their kids. That’s why this moment spiraled into an alleged affair scandal overnight, complete with TikTok threads, X (formerly Twitter) rants, and speculation that Megan dropped his last name from her bio. (Not confirmed, but very internet-core energy.)
Astronomer’s Big Bang—Just Not the Data Kind
Neither Byron nor Cabot has made a public statement. Astronomer’s website? Silent. LinkedIn? Radio static. Meanwhile, the drama is meme-ready. Posts racked up hundreds of thousands of views. Many agree Coldplay’s only real contribution to society was giving us this breakup arc.
No one’s gotten fired. Yet. But the silence feels like someone’s trying to smother a PR dumpster fire with a Patagonia fleece.
This moment hits all the buttons: corporate hierarchy, alleged infidelity, awkward visibility, and Chris Martin playing messy MC. It’s a live-action episode of Succession meets The Office with Coldplay as the Greek chorus.
Until someone issues a press release or files for divorce, we’re left with speculation, memes, and a video that keeps getting reposted with worse audio but better captions. At least Coldplay didn’t have to pretend to be interesting, they haven't since 2010. The kiss cam handled that, good for them.
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