'Coldplaygate' is a stark reminder that cameras are everywhere

The Star

4 days ago

The Internet's latest obsession occurred at, of all places, a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
During the concert July 16, Chris Martin, the band's frontman, announced that he would be singing to a select few fans in the crowd. 'The way we're going to do that is using our cameras,' he said. 'So, if you look at the screens, we're going to come looking and see who's out there to say hello to.'
After Martin sang a happy birthday song to one ecstatic fan while playing mellow guitar, a giant screen in the stadium showed a couple embracing. The man, who the Internet quickly identified as Andy Byron, the married CEO of a tech company called Astronomer, held his arms around Kristin Cabot, the company's chief people officer who is not his wife.
'Oh, look at these two,' Martin said, prepared to sing another sweet song. Then things became awkward.
When Cabot noticed her face on the screen, she immediately jumped out of Byron's arms, covered her face and turned around. He ducked out of view. A woman standing beside them was seen cupping her face in disbelief, her mouth wide open.
Martin, realising what was happening, said: 'Wow, what? Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy. I'm not quite sure what to do.'
The identities of Byron and Cabot were confirmed by a spokesperson for Astronomer on Friday night (July 18) after the company issued a statement saying Byron had been placed on leave and that the company's chief product officer, Peter DeJoy, would serve as interim CEO.
Saturday afternoon (July 19), Astronomer issued another statement saying that Byron had resigned and that the board of directors would begin a search for his replacement.
Astronomer, a data infrastructure company that works with companies to manage and automate data, had previously said it was launching an investigation of the incident and that 'our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability'.
The incident, which has dominated social media, was a stark reminder of how quickly things can spread thanks to social media and how cameras are surrounding people at all times. That is especially true at large concerts where fans are often recording snippets or streaming them on social media. Case in point: The video of Wednesday's interaction was posted by a concertgoer with a modest TikTok following. But thanks to the power of that app's algorithm, it had more than 77 million views as of Friday evening.
It took only a few seconds of video for Byron and Cabot to thoroughly dominate Internet discourse and become an instant meme, which many have called 'Coldplaygate'.
As the video circulated, some shared their advice for the couple, suggesting they could have covered themselves in a blanket or thrown on a pair of shades. Others pointed out how awkward things would be at their office the next day.
The moment proceeded to be shared, and joked about, by politicians, corporations and even New York City's sanitation department.
From there, it turned into a broader discussion of privacy and why they had been wrong to assume they would not be seen and, potentially, recorded.
'If you're in a public place, there is absolutely no expectation of privacy,' said Charles Lindsey, an associate professor of marketing at University at Buffalo School of Management. 'When you're in a public place, whether it be a public park, a store, a concert, there are cameras, and if it's on camera, you can't take it back.'
That lesson had been learned by plenty of people before this incident.
There was the time in May when the door of a plane carrying French President Emmanuel Macron had just been opened by staff in Hanoi, Vietnam, when his wife, Brigitte Macron, pushed him in the face. When he looked up and noticed a camera filming the scene from outside, he waved. The video quickly gained traction online, leading to a flurry of interpretations.
In 2024, there was a great deal of debate over a woman posting videos on TikTok in which she assumed she was witnessing an extramarital affair taking place on a plane.
And there was the infamous Met Gala elevator incident in 2014, where Solange Knowles was seen attacking Jay-Z while her sister, Beyoncé, stood watching and a bodyguard tried to restore order. The security-cam footage leaked to TMZ, and it became fodder for the public.
'We live in a very intrusive world, in terms of cameras and digital footprints,' Lindsey said. 'It can take 10 or 20 years to build a reputation, and you can lose it in a moment.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.