Astronomer's HR Head Kristin Cabot is married in a Boston Brahmin family: Who are Boston Brahmins brought into light by Coldplay controversy

Time of India

9 hours ago

A simple 'kiss cam' clip from Coldplay's concert in the Greater Boston area recently led to a storm of viral videos, capturing ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR Head Kristin Cabot embracing each other.
Coldplay lead Chris Martin called out at the displayed video of the couple, and ever since then, social media and online platforms have been full of memes and content around them.
The fallout from the concert has opened a window into a world about which most people outside Massachusetts rarely hear, where tradition can matter just as much as money. One of those names is Cabot. For generations, the Cabot family has been part of America's old elite, a kind of modern-day aristocracy that usually stays out of the spotlight.
But this viral moment has brought the name into the spotlight.
Kristin is married into the Cabot family, one of Boston's oldest and most influential lineages. Her husband, Andrew Cabot, is the sixth-generation owner of Privateer Rum and part of a dynasty that stretches back ten generations in New England. The Cabots are one of the bases of the Boston Brahmins, a class once described by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in his 1861 novel Elsie Venner as the 'Brahmin Caste of New England.'
Coldplay's Boston kiss cam accidentally exposed Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot in an alleged affair. Now, the internet and LinkedIn are buzzing with questions about the rumoured office romance.
Who are the Boston Brahmins?
They are known as the 'First Families of Boston'. The Boston Brahmins were Anglo-Saxon Protestant elites who dominated New England's political, cultural, and economic life from the 18th to the early 20th century. 'And this is good old Boston / The home of the bean and the cod / Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots / And the Cabots talk only to God,' goes a famous rhyme still recited by Boston schoolchildren.
But being a Brahmin isn't just about wealth; it's also about legacy and restraint.
According to The New York Post, the Cabots built their fortune in the soot trade, specifically carbon black, which was essential for tire manufacturing. Today, family members like Andrew Cabot manage family-run enterprises, in line with Brahmin tradition.
After the ongoing controversy around the recent cheating scandal at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigned from his position, but there is outrage over Kristin Cabot's face and calls to resign after the Coldplay scandal. Also read about Kristin Cabot's 'Boston Brahmin' family history.
The unspoken rules of privilege
For Boston Brahmins, showing off was never part of their being. Wealth is something you live with quietly, not something you flash around. A true Brahmin might take the T to work, wear the same simple, but well-made, suit year after year, and eat cold roast leftovers instead of going out for fancy meals. As petr reports by the New York Post, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, a proud Brahmin himself, once said, 'Your name should only appear in print three times: when you're born, when you marry, and when you die.
' He joked that he didn't quite follow that rule, since he ended up in the papers more often than tradition would allow.