Coldplay frontman’s warning to fans after ‘kiss cam’ controversy
By Chris Hook
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has delivered a cheeky warning to fans that they may appear on the big screen during the British band’s latest US concert at the weekend – just days after “kiss cam” video from an earlier show went viral because of the reaction of the pair caught on camera.
The Jumbotron Song footage was captured at Coldplay’s concert during their Music of the Spheres world tour in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Wednesday evening (Thursday morning AEST), and appeared to show Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his chief people officer Kristin Cabot cuddling.
Realising they were on the big screen, Byron appeared to duck away while Cabot hid her face behind her hands and turned away from the camera.
“Oh, look at these two ... Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” Martin said, as laughter rang out across the stadium.
Both are believed to be married to other people and Byron resigned from his position as chief executive of the New York-based $1.5 billion company on Saturday, according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company.
On Saturday night (local time) at the band’s show in Madison, Wisconsin, Martin appeared to deliver an oblique nod to the incident while not specifically referring to it as he warmed up the crowd for another round of footage.
“We’d like to say hello to some of you in the crowd,” Martin said, smiling as he strummed his guitar.
“And how we’re going to do this is, we’re going to use our cameras and we’re going to put someone on the big screen. So please if you haven’t done your makeup, do your makeup now.”
As one TikTok user noted, the band did not “mention the CEO scandal at 1st [sic] show since incident … but let’s say the definitely give the crowd the opportunity not to be hugging”.
The fallout from the earlier footage – dubbed “Coldplaygate” on social media – has prompted a wave of memes, and imitators.
On Saturday, North Queensland Cowboys NRLW stars Makenzie Weale and Tallisha Harden mimicked the moment as they celebrated scoring a try.
Also on Saturday, Lisa Wilkinson and Hamish Blake spoofed the moment during US comedian Nikki Glaser’s show at the ICC Sydney Theatre as the camera focused on audience members.
In video posted to Wilkinson’s Instagram feed, the comic can be heard saying, “Let’s see if we have one more we can find ... can we zoom in?” as the camera panned across the crowd.
As the view settles on Wilkinson and Blake, the pair recreated the moment from the Coldplay show, as those sitting around them collapsed in laughter.
Wilkinson is married to Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons and Blake is married to author and entrepreneur Zoe Foster Blake.
“Is that Hamish and Lisa?” Glaser is heard to say in the video. “Someone call Zoe right now.”
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