Chris Martin is giving his concertgoers a heads-up that, yes, they might be featured on the jumbotron at one of his band’s shows.
The Coldplay frontman jokingly referenced the recent kiss-cam scandal involving Astronomer CEO Andy Byron during his band’s latest concert — the first since the video went viral. On Saturday night, the singer lightheartedly warned fans that they might appear on the jumbotron during the band’s show at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
“We’d like to say hello to some of you in the crowd,” he said in a video posted on X, which sparked cheers and laughter from those in attendance. “How we’re gonna do that is we’re gonna use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen. So please, if you haven’t done your makeup, do your makeup now.”
That, of course, was a reference to the kiss-cam scandal that has taken the internet by storm and dominated social media for the past several days. It all started during Coldplay’s Boston concert on Wednesday when the jumbotron caught Byron with his arms around his top human resources executive, Kristin Cabot, in a kiss-cam segment. However, once they realized they were on the jumbotron, Byron ducked down so he couldn’t be seen, and Cabot turned around, trying to hide her face. Both Byron and Cabot are reportedly married to other people.
In videos posted of the incident online, Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Saturday’s concert in Madison was Coldplay’s first show since the incident. After a video of the incident surfaced online, Byron and Cabot were reportedly put on leave, and Byron has since resigned. Astronomer said in a statement that it is searching for his replacement.
“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” the statement reads. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met. Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”
The statement continues, “Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI. While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems.”
