Coldplay Jumbotron Blunder Triggers Kristin Cabot’s Exit from Astronomer
I’m Riley Carter, and here’s the low-key scoop on a corporate fallout you didn’t see coming. Another late-night jumbotron moment went viral and suddenly a DataOps leader’s career took an unexpected turn.
The whole thing kicked off on July 16 at Coldplay’s Gillette Stadium show in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Concertgoer Grace Springer captured video of Astronomer’s former CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristin Cabot cozying up when the band’s camera swung around. As soon as they noticed they were center-stage on the giant screen, both bolted to hide their faces. If you’ve ever ducked out of frame to dodge attention, you know the rest of the internet was ready to blow it up.
Just seconds after the pair vanished from view, frontman Chris Martin quipped, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just really shy,” then admitted, “Oh s–t, I hope we didn’t do something bad.” Twitter and TikTok sleuths quickly ID’d the duo as Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot, who are both married to other people. Social media chatter exploded about what this meant for Astronomer, the Chicago-based data company known for pioneering DataOps solutions from modern analytics to production AI.
Five days later on July 19, Astronomer’s board confirmed via an official statement on X that Andy Byron had tendered his resignation. “The Board of Directors has accepted his resignation and will begin the search for our next Chief Executive,” it read. Cofounder Pete DeJoy was named interim CEO immediately, as the company insisted its product road map for customers remains unchanged.
Then came the follow-up that nobody saw coming in this saga. NBC News reached out to Astronomer and obtained confirmation that Kristin Cabot has resigned from her role as chief people officer. “I can confirm that Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer,” a spokesperson told NBC News. No further comments were offered, leaving industry insiders and data teams wondering what internal review flagged her involvement.
Before this fiasco, Astronomer was quietly gaining attention for its DataOps platform powering machine learning pipelines and analytics environments. Now the firm faces reputation risk even as it tries to reassure investors and enterprise clients that day-to-day operations aren’t up for debate. Company leaders have stressed they’re “continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”
There are no signs of an apology from Cabot herself, and Andy Byron hasn’t weighed in publicly either. Meanwhile, fans of Coldplay are still buzzing over Martin’s stage banter—and the fact that a simple spotlight scan could end two high-profile tech careers. Corporate etiquette classes, take note.
Anyway, that’s the deal. Do with it what you will, and keep an eye on Astronomer’s next moves—because in tech and celebrity crossings, the line between the boardroom and the concert arena can get pretty blurry.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, NBC News, Astronomer statement on X (formerly Twitter), Grace Springer concert video
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
