Ex-CEO could sue Coldplay over kiss cam scandal
Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron could take action after he was caught on camera canoodling with his colleague, as the massive fallout from the cheating scandal continues.
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Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron could sue Coldplay due to the massive fallout from his kiss cam fiasco with his former colleague Kristin Cabot, a legal expert confirms, but he’d have to get really “creative.”
“If we are getting creative, a possible claim would be for defamation, specifically as it relates to Chris Martin characterising the two as having an ‘affair,’” attorney Camron Dowlatshahi from MSD Lawyers exclusively told Page Six.
Defamation is a statement, either written or verbal, that injures a third party’s reputation, per Cornell Law.
When Byron and Cabot hid in shame after they were caught canoodling at Coldplay’s concert near Boston last week, Martin, 48, told fans over the mic, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Dowlatshahi explains that in order for Byron to prove the Sky Full of Stars singer’s remarks were defamatory, he would have to prove “that there wasn’t an affair” — which doesn’t appear to be the case since neither he nor Cabot have publicly debunked that claim and it’s been revealed they have spouses.
The MSD Lawyers partner says Byron would also have to prove in court that Martin “knew or should have known” that the disgraced CEO was not cheating “but made the statement anyway with malice.”
“None of those elements will be met, so any claim against Coldplay would be frivolous,” Dowlatshahi points out before highlighting yet another reason Byron would likely abstain from legal action.
“I also very much doubt that Mr. Byron would want further public scrutiny by bringing a borderline frivolous suit against the event organisers and/or Coldplay.”
KISS CAM CEO’S REPLACEMENT WEIGHS IN ON SAGA
The new interim CEO of Astronomer broke his silence on the Coldplay “kiss cam” scandal — and gushed that the small, New York-based AI firm is now a “household name.”
Brooklynite Pete DeJoy, the company’s co-founder, took the reins at Astronomer over the weekend after its disgraced boss Andy Byron resigned after being caught on the kiss cam cozying up with Kristin Cabot, the company’s head of HR.
“The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name,” DeJoy said in a LinkedIn post.
“The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies – let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world – ever encounter.” he added.
The post came after Coldplay frontman Chris Martin warned fans to get camera-ready during his concert on the weekend — a wink and a nod to the massive scandal caused by the kiss-cam at his last show.
The moment came just a few days after millionaire CEO Andy Byron and his HR executive Kristin Cabot sparked an online firestorm by awkwardly dodging the cam caught canoodling at Coldplay’s Boston show last week.
“We’d like to say hello to some of you in the crowd, how we gonna do that, is we gonna use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen,” Martin told the crowd at a show in Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, according to videos posted by concertgoers on social media.
“So please, if you haven’t done your makeup, do your makeup now,” he said.
The cheeky comment came just days after Byron, 50, and Cabot, 52, were caught cuddling — then panicking — as jumbotron cameras zeroed in on them in a crowd of 55,000 during Coldplay’s concert at Gillette Stadium.
Cabot quickly shielded her face while Byron ducked out of view, the video showed.
Martin quipped, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”
By Thursday morning, the pair was identified as the high-powered CEO and HR boss of a tech company.
On Friday — the same day a new video emerged of Byron and Cabot — their stunning downfall accelerated, as both were placed on leave while Astronomer said it was investigating the debacle.
And an interim CEO, company co-founder Pete DeJoy, a Brooklynite, was named.
By Saturday, news broke that Byron has quit the company.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Cabot is married into one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Boston.
Cabot, who is on leave from her job at Astronomer following the embarrassing incident, appears to be married to Privateer Rum owner Andrew Cabot, according to social media posts.
The allegedly jilted husband touts his family lineage as the sixth-generation owner of the longstanding rum brand, founded by the “original” Andrew Cabot.
The Cabot fortune has transcended generations, and was estimated at US200 million ($A306m) in a 1972 New York Times profile of the family. That’s US15.4 billion ($A23.5 bn) in 2025.
It’s not clear when Kristin and Andrew got married, but it’s at least the second marriage for both.
Her previous divorce was finalised in 2022.
Cabot’s now-deleted LinkedIn account showed that she has served as an “advisory board member” at Privateer Rum since September 2020.
Property records show that they bought a US2.2 million ($A3.3m) house on the New Hampshire coast earlier this year.
The Cabot family is one of the original “Boston Brahmin” clans that controlled New England for centuries — a club so old, WASPY and distinguished that the Irish-Catholic Kennedys are left out in the cold.
The family made its fortune in soot, known colloquially in industry circles as “carbon black,” a key ingredient in car tires, and dates back to New England for 10 generations.
But, family members have been behind a slew of businesses across New England — including the rum company.
The family patriarch, Samuel Cabot, kickstarted the family’s fortune by marrying Eliza Perkins, the daughter of wealthy merchant trader.
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Originally published as Ex-CEO could sue Coldplay over kiss cam scandal
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