A video appearing to show a tech CEO and his head of HR embracing at a Coldplay concert is spreading around social media at the speed of sound.
Meanwhile, the startup at the center of the drama has stayed silent as people online flood the company’s social media posts with comments.
The viral clip appears to show Astronomer CEO Andy Byron with his arms wrapped around the company’s head of people, Kristin Cabot. It was captured on the concert’s “kiss cam” and broadcast to the crowd at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
Given the pair’s reaction — mortified looks, a quick untangling, and a camera dodge — Coldplay’s front man, Chris Martin, speculated from the stage that either they are “having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Neither Byron nor Cabot has commented on the viral clip.
The executives, the company, its board members, and its founders have not responded to requests for comment from Business Insider. Astronomer turned off the ability to comment on its LinkedIn and X posts after they were bombarded with commentary.
The internet has been anything but quiet.
On X and TikTok, there’s been a deluge of commentary about the footage, which has been viewed tens of millions of times. Most have joked about the incident: One user called it “Scandoval for people who can’t attach a PDF to an email,” while another chimed in, “god forbid you want to viva la vida loca.”
Ry Walker, who served as Astronomer CEO from 2015 to 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, publicly distanced himself from the incident in a cheeky post on X, writing that “for those asking,” he is “no longer involved” with the company.
“Yes I was co-founder and early CEO – not on the team or board since 2022, and have no information on ColdplayGate,” Walker wrote on X.
Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Flexport’s founder, Ryan Petersen, said the board should give Byron a raise for the publicity it generated for the company.
Others have gone further, digging up the pair’s LinkedIn pages and YouTube videos featuring Byron to leave comments referencing the viral clip.
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Byron’s name was the top trending Google search term over the past 24 hours; he was Googled over 2 million times.
There’s even money on the line: On Polymarket, more than $35,000 has been committed to predict Byron’s chances of remaining CEO, while a separate market about his marital status has a pool of $30,000.
It’s unclear whether Astronomer has any policies around office relationships, as some companies do.
Still, “a hard launch of a workplace romantic relationship at a Coldplay concert is not the best way to go about it,” Kate Walker, a human resources consultant and executive coach, told BI.
Astronomer, which builds various data management and optimization products, completed a Series D funding round in May that valued the company at $775 million, according to PitchBook.
Byron has been its CEO since July 2023. He previously held C-suite roles at several other software and tech firms.
Last year, he hired Cabot as the company’s head of people.
“Kristin’s exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory,” Byron said in a press release about her hiring last year.
The LinkedIn version of the announcement? It’s been taken down.
