Fake statements circulate after CEO’s alleged affair exposed at Coldplay concert
Statements appeared legitimate and went viral after Astronomer CEO spotted with his colleague
CLAIM: Screenshots of statements by people involved in an internet storm circulated on social media and made it into news coverage.
BACKGROUND: A viral video from a Coldplay concert unearthed an alleged affair between two high-level colleagues at a U.S. tech company.
METHOD: The company at the heart of the story debunked a statement that was widely shared. There was no evidence that the others were legitimate.
RATING: The statements were fabricated. The people at the centre of the story had not released a response at the time of writing.
A viral video from a Coldplay concert that has embroiled a tech CEO in an alleged workplace affair and triggered thousands of satirical jokes across social media has also sparked outright misinformation.
Media outlets were even caught out by the false material, which was mixed in on social media with the dozens of viral memes.
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The story began when a TikTok video filmed from the audience at a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was posted late on Wednesday evening U.S. time.
It showed a Jumbotron at the concert, which was playing a crowd-cam feed. The camera zoomed in on a cuddling couple who, once they realised they were on-screen, ducked out of view as another woman nearby laughed, red-faced.
Coldplay’s singer, Chris Martin, had been commenting on the different audience members from the stage. As this couple quickly exited the frame, he joked: “Uh oh, what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
People in the comments quickly identified the pair as Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the same company’s HR chief, Kristin Cabot. Astronomer is a tech start-up that sells data operations software. Both of the individuals mentioned are listed on the company’s Meet the Team leadership page.
After just a day online, the video had amassed almost 50 million views on TikTok—and many tens of millions more as it was reshared across platforms and covered by the dozens of media organisations when the story blew up on Thursday and Friday.
Speculation about the romantic drama reached fever pitch when online sleuths made claims that the CEO’s wife had removed the ‘Byron’ surname from her social media profile.
Fake statements attributed to embattled CEO
With the world hungry for the next episode of this soap opera, opportunistic spoofers began to circulate screenshots of Andy Byron’s purported statement on the situation.
The statement, which appeared to be written by Byron, said he wanted to “acknowledge the moment that’s been circulating online … I want to sincerely apologize to my wife, my family, and the team at Astronomer.”
A different statement appeared to have been issued through the X account of the company, and had him saying his behaviour was “inexcusable”. In a satirical twist, he purportedly said: “I tried to hide my actions but the truth has finally been revealed. I am a Coldplay fan.”
Images of the statements were shared widely; examples of which can be seen here, here, and here. Some of the posts we identified containing the image were deleted after the company at the heart of the scandal told TMZ it was fake, and said the CEO had not issued an update. There was no sign of the statement that looked like an X post on the official profile of the Astronomer company.
Some news outlets also appeared to have used the fake statement. An article seen by Eurovision News Spotlight was published by the Daily Record, citing the Mirror US news outlet (the articles share an author as the two outlets are from the same news group).
Both had been corrected by early Friday, but the original story was still visible via social link previews a while later.
Coldplay has not introduced camera-free sections for ‘sidepieces’
There was also a suspect statement from Coldplay, which said: “Starting with our next show, we’re introducing camera-free audience sections for people and their sidepieces.”
One post on X that shared the image with the caption “A thoughtful decision by Coldplay” had over 7.6 million views.
The post was not visible on the official Coldplay X account, and there was no evidence that it had ever been posted to the page. Grok, the built-in AI on X, which can scan through all public posts on the platform, responded to a commenter, saying: “This screenshot is fabricated. Coldplay has not announced camera-free sections for ‘sidepieces’—no such post exists on their official X account or in recent news. Likely a joke.”
While social media users are rightly sceptical of photos and videos amid the rise in AI-generated content, they may be more trusting of other items, such as statements that appear legitimate. This story is a valuable reminder for news outlets to seek out the originals—and for readers to cross-check fast-moving stories across several trustworthy news outlets.
SOURCES
Tiktok.com. (2025). TikTok – Make Your Day. [online] Available at: trouble in paradise?? 👀 #coldplay #boston #coldplayconcert #kisscam #fyp [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
@astronomerio. (2018). About Astronomer. [online] Available at: ABOUT THE COMPANY: Leadership [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
Cheyenne, A. (2025). Astronomer breaks silence on CEO at Coldplay concert and AI message. [online] The Mirror US. [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
Cheyenne, A. and Carroll, M.D. (2025). Update on Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ as Astronomer says Andy Byron statement is ‘not real’. [online] Daily Record. [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron releases statement after Coldplay Concert where he was caught cheating with an HR associate [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: wow [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Wow, quite the statement from Andy Byron #ColdplayGate [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: In case you missed it! The Astronomer CEO Andy Byron was caught cuddling his HR chief on the Coldplay kiss cam and here’s his statement and Coldplay’s response. [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
Staff, TMZ. (2025). CEO Busted in Alleged Affair at Coldplay Show, Company Says Viral ‘Statement’ Is Fake. [online] TMZ. [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: A thoughtful decision by Coldplay. [Accessed 18 Jul. 2025].