On 16 July 2025, Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot went to a Coldplay concert in Boston. You know this, I know this, my pop-culture-averse neighbour Norma knows this. Millions of people around the world are intimately acquainted with what happened that fateful day: the co-workers were caught cuddling and then jumping apart in horror on Coldplay’s kiss cam. Attention spans are short and fresh memes are minted daily. Unfortunately for Byron and Cabot, this wasn’t just another meme; the video of their shocked reaction contained all the ingredients of a viral moment with unusual staying power.
First, there was the format: the clip – uploaded on social media by a fellow concert-goer – was only a few seconds long and easy to recreate. Then there were the protagonists: Byron was the married CEO of software company Astronomer and Cabot was the head of HR. Inequality is at record levels and eat-the-rich narratives are everywhere; everyone loves the chance to hate on wealthy tech types.
While Byron and Cabot presumably did a lot of explaining in private after the concert, their moment of shame took on a very public life. Every baseball team in the US seemed to have a bash at re-enacting the moment on stadium big screens. The first high-profile parody was by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team’s mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, who mocked the pair’s panicked reaction on the JumboTron at Citizens Bank Park. The stadium also played an audio clip of Coldplay’s Chris Martin’s reaction: “Uh-oh, what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
On TV, the Late Show host, Stephen Colbert, incorporated Donald Trump into the meme. In May, you might remember, CBS announced that Colbert’s show was getting cancelled: weirdly, this news came only a few days after the late-night host criticised the network’s parent company, Paramount, for settling a lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16m (£12m). Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe”. On 21 July, the first show after the cancellation was announced, Colbert parodied the Coldplay moment with a cartoon of Trump shiftily hugging the Paramount logo from behind.
Strictly Come Dancing also got a dig in during an October broadcast when host Claudia Winkleman cosied up to the show’s conductor, Dave Arch, even though it had been a whole three months since the moment went viral (a thousand years in internet time).
It wasn’t just sports teams and TV stars piling in: if there’s a viral moment, you can bet there’s a brand desperate to jump on it. The German arm of language learning app Duolingo posted a guide on Instagram describing what to do when you’re “caught in 4K but you’re fluent in denial”. Ikea Singapore posted a photo of two stuffed animals cuddling with the headline “HR approved”. Nando’s Australia ran a promo for a free side dish with your main meal, billed as “a little something on the side”, with promo code COLDPLAY. Even the New York Department of Sanitation incorporated the video into a public service announcement about dumping trash, warning, “We WILL catch you.”
And what of our star-crossed (alleged) lovers? Byron resigned from Astronomer. The state of his marriage continues to be a matter of public intrigue: in November it was reported that he sold his $5.8m Manhattan apartment, with the deed suggesting that he is still with his wife. Byron was also papped with his wife on a stroll in Maine in September. You don’t have to feel sorry for the man, but stalking him months after a viral moment feels a tad unnecessary.
Cabot, meanwhile, spoke about the incident in an interview with the New York Times last week. For weeks, Cabot said, she received 500 or 600 calls a day along with death threats and nasty comments about her appearance. She is still recognised when she goes out. Cabot also reiterated an earlier statement that she had separated from her husband “several weeks before the Coldplay concert”. Indeed, as was reported in September, her husband was at the same Coldplay concert with a date of his own.
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about,” Oscar Wilde famously said. I doubt Byron and Cabot agree with that, but the new CEO of Astronomer would seem to concur. Shortly after Byron made international headlines, Pete DeJoy announced on LinkedIn that he had stepped into the role of interim CEO. “While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name,” DeJoy wrote. And the company quickly milked their new brand recognition for all it was worth, working with Ryan Reynolds’ advertising agency to put out a promotional video tied to the drama, starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
Clearly Astronomer was over the moon with DeJoy’s performance because, in late November, the interim chief exec updated his LinkedIn again: he officially became the company’s new CEO. At least DeJoy got a happy ending.
