Astronomer, the US technology company caught up in the now infamous Coldplay concert scandal, says its head of human resources, Kristin Cabot, has resigned.
“Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer,” a spokesperson for the company told the ABC.
“She has resigned.”
Who is Kristin Cabot?
Ms Cabot used to be listed as Astronomer’s chief people officer on its website — but her profile has since been deleted from from the site.
She became the target of intense scrutiny after internet sleuths said she was the woman in a now-viral video taken at a Coldplay concert.
The video showed a pair cuddling during the concert and hiding from cameras once they realised their image was being projected on a large screen.
Astronomer’s former chief executive officer, Andy Byron, was identified by social media users as the man in the video.
Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot appeared on Astronomer’s website last week, but both profiles have since been removed. (Astronomer)
Andy Byron already resigned
While neither Ms Cabot, Mr Byron, nor the company have publicly confirmed they were in the video, Astronomer eventually made several statements about the internet frenzy.
Initially, it said it had launched a “formal investigation” into the matter and that Mr Byron had not made any public statements, debunking the fake apologies attributed to him that had been circulating online.
A few hours later, Astronomer published a statement saying Mr Byron had been “placed on leave”.
The next day, the company announced Mr Byron had resigned.
“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” the company said at the time.
Former Astronomer chief executive Andy Byron in a video for the company’s YouTube channel in March. (YouTube: Astronomer)
The ABC has contacted Astronomer for an update on the company’s investigation, however, it is unclear if the outcome of that probe will be made public.
The company has been careful in its wording of statements about the matter, never directly referring to the Coldplay concert, the video or commenting on specific aspects of the conduct of Mr Byron or Ms Cabot.
However, it has referenced the extreme interest in the company over the past week.
Here is a snippet of what acting chief executive Pete DeJoy said in a statement on LinkedIn titled Moving Forward at Astronomer:
“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.
“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.”
What happened at the Coldplay concert?
Video showed one person with their arms wrapped around another watching Coldplay perform in a stadium near the US city of Boston last week.
The pair were filmed by concert crew, with the footage being projected on large screens inside the venue.
Often referred to as a “kiss cam”, this is a standard practice at large concerts and sporting events to capture crowd reactions — and couples kissing for the camera.
Featuring on the big screen usually prompts excited reactions from the people in the spotlight.
However, in this instance, the people in the shot appeared to be hiding their faces — one quickly turned their back to the camera, and the other ducked down out of the shot.
Coldplay singer Chris Martin can be heard saying, “either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”.
Video from the concert has been viewed more than 100 million times. (TIkTok: @instaagraace)
The whole interaction was filmed by fellow concert-goer Grace Springer, who posted it on TikTok — where it quickly went viral.
A day later, it had been viewed more than 70 million times and, as of Friday morning, it had been viewed more than 127 million times.
It was not long before the video wound up on major news websites around the world, not to mention being a key topic on podcasts, Reddit threads and social media comment sections.
“A part of me feels bad for turning these people’s lives upside down, but, play stupid games … win stupid prizes,” Ms Springer said in an interview with British tabloid The Sun.
“I hope their partners can heal from this and get a second chance at the happiness they deserve with their future still in front of them.”
