CEO and HR lady caught on the 'kiss cam' at Coldplay concert having an affair

In a rarely experienced phenomenon not seen since the Blue Origin space excursion, the internet responses have been mostly unified.

By now I’m sure everyone has seen the viral clip from a Coldplay concert where Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his chief human resources officer, Kristin Cabot, were busted on a “kiss cam” embracing at the band’s Gillette Stadium concert this past Wednesday night — a clip now seen close to 50 million times.

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the clip with commentary from a local news station in Chicago:

The responses seem to have mostly united the internet for a brief moment. Right, left and everyone agrees the guy is a douchebag. And she, as the head of HR at this company that I’ve never heard of, is a hypocrite of the kind mostly seen in HR — she likely is in charge of policing employee behavior at the company around “ethics” but is banging the CEO. Her official title is (or was, we’ll see) Chief People Officer.

Apparently, he is married (maybe soon to be was, again, we’ll see), she is recently divorced. For the third time.

I mean the ducking! Did he think that would work?!

What they needed to do was brush it off as we were caught up in the moment, nothing to see here! Not that I’ve ever hugged a boss like that. But it would have been worth a try! Instead, he ducks for cover and she hides her face by turning her back to camera and it is both ineffective in hiding their identities and it’s a total admission of guilt.

What a shit show. The poor wife.

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I’ve got thoughts. Here they are:

They are apparently in a box. Like a private viewing area that is very expensive. There are other people in the box. And there is a woman who laughs right when they are caught on camera, as if to say “Oh shit you’re busted!”

Who is that? She knows that they are having an affair. Were the box seats purchased for work purposes? Is this a work colleague who knows the CEO and the head of HR are having an affair? Is it just her girlfriend who knows she’s cheating with the CEO? At any rate, they weren’t very private about their dalliance if they went to a concert with 65,000 people and their friends are in the box with them. Who does this?

There are definitely people who are saying: So what? It’s not against the rules for people to have affairs at work. Stay out of their business!

Well, not true. Many companies do have rules around being in a relationship with a direct report. If nothing else, it creates the appearance of impropriety.

For instance, if the boss is sleeping with one of his direct reports: Is she getting paid more than her peers? Is she getting undeserved raises? Is she whispering sweet nothings into his ear in seedy motel rooms or not so seedy motel rooms, persuading him that she deserves a few more points of equity or RSUs because . . . c’mon! Are her mistakes and missteps overlooked in a way that they aren’t for her colleagues? Add in that it’s an affair vs a dating relationship and it’s that much worse.

Even if there isn’t an explicit rule at this company, now that the employees all know, it certainly makes it difficult for these two to lead the organization. At the very least, they both seem to have poor judgement.

It adds insult to injury that she is the head of HR and is called the Chief People Officer in the company. She is in charge of the people!?? What does that mean even? Which people get to work there? How those people behave? How the people treat other people in the company? Honestly it’s just too funny. Can she really be the judge and jury for these things?

Per my prior rants about HR and why I don’t want HR in my company EVER, HR leaders are often women (approximately 75%) and, as I’ve written, they often have the officious “head girl” nose in the air countenance telling everyone how to behave and comport themselves. It’s all just too rich.

Moving on . . . Matt Walsh used it as an opportunity to say that adultery should be a crime.

Specifically, he wrote: “One of my least popular (but still correct) opinions is that adultery should be a criminal offense punishable by serious prison time for both parties involved.”

He’s right that it is an unpopular opinion!

Andrew Tate even responded. In case you live under a rock, Tate is the social media influencer/kickboxer/alpha male destroying the brains of young men. As of March 2025, he is under investigation in Romania, the UK, and the US for charges including human trafficking, rape, forming an organized crime group, and tax evasion.

He says it’s women’s fault if they are raped but he also thinks rape is just fine. Anyway, he decided to respond with this:

“Great way to put the nail in marriages coffin. Nobody gets married anymore because of women like her. Men are men, always have been and will be. He’s allowed. She isn’t. Telling men if they touch another girl any point in their lives — financial decimation is why nobody gets married anymore.”

Is Tate just a master troll? Monetizing misogyny for the masses? Or does he think these things? Or both? I really can’t tell.

And honestly, these are the choices out there as far as male behavior? Walsh who wants to punish debauchery with prison time — how does this even work, practically speaking? There are approximately 62 million married couples in the US and estimates suggest that approximately 20% of the men in those marriages cheat (it’s estimated to be a bit lower for women but the gap is closing!) So we’re supposed to imprison over 12 million people for infidelity? Walsh says both should be imprisoned so that is 24 million people! The entire prison population is around 1.8 million now. We’re gonna 6x that with male cheaters? 12x it with both cheaters? I don’t think so.

And then there is Tate who says thing like — “If you’re my woman, you belong to me. You don’t get to have your own life or opinions” and “If you’re a woman, you’re not capable of doing anything on your own. You need a man to guide you and give you purpose” and lastly, this gem “People think I’m running around with these hoes because I like sex. That’s not true. I have sex with these bitches to show other men what I’ve achieved.” This is the guy advocating for marriage as an institution? We’re fucked.

At the end of the day, this is a sad story. A woman — the wife of the CEO — likely found out about what will probably amount to the end of her marriage when her husband went to a Coldplay concert and likely told her it was a “work thing” and then got blasted on the kiss cam with his side piece.

I’m not making light of it. I swear. That said, amidst the Middle East conflict, the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war and the Epstein affair raging on (which I’m finding it hard to muster up any energy for), a little internet unity even if it is around slamming universally frowned upon behaviors (except by Tate, I guess) is refreshing.