Schadenfreude played no small part in turning a video of two Astronomer executives caught in a romantic moment into an online obsession
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron is far from the only executive to step down after questionable public behavior. But he may be the first because of a viral “kiss-cam” moment at a Coldplay concert.
Days after a video of Byron canoodling with the company’s HR chief nearly broke the internet, the company said Byron had resigned from his position. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” Astronomer said Saturday.
Neither Byron nor Astronomer’s chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, responded to requests for comment, and both of their LinkedIn profiles have been taken down.
Astronomer and its now-former CEO were hardly household names before the jumbotron at Wednesday’s Boston-area Coldplay concert spotlighted the married Byron embracing Cabot. Had they been just another couple caught in a compromising position, their online notoriety might never have taken off.
But as leaders at a tech startup, they became an instant online obsession, fueled by a growing love for hating on wealthy CEOs. Plenty of social-media users have delighted in watching two senior executives appear to get a comeuppance.
“Getting caught cheating publicly at a Coldplay concert bad enough, but as the CEO?” one user posted on X. “Way too many hypocrites who work in ‘Human Resources,’” wrote another. More than a few who’d never heard of Byron before called him “toxic.” Online betting markets made predictions on whether he would be ousted within days.
In an instant, the video became a lightning rod for the public’s conflicting views on wealth, power and simmering frustrations toward the executive class, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University.
“There’s a certain schadenfreude associated with this,” he said. “Here’s a takedown of the ‘haves’ versus the ‘have nots.’”
The online furor erupted shortly after the camera at the Coldplay concert panned to Byron and Cabot. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said from the stage, as Byron quickly ducked out of frame and Cabot covered her face and turned.
By Thursday, the CEO was the top-trending term on Google in the U.S., and the video was ricocheting across TikTok, Instagram, X and even LinkedIn. Consumer brands, an airline and even a government sanitation department weighed in on the incident across their social-media channels.
Workers have grown more disenchanted with corporate bosses in recent years. Lack of trust in what business leaders say has risen 21% since 2021, according to annual surveys of more than 30,000 adults by global communications firm Edelman. That’s a slightly bigger jump than in distrust for government leaders or the media over the same period, according to the most recent survey published in January.
And when CEOs get caught in a less-than-flattering light, the internet is quick to expose it. The CEO of furniture maker MillerKnoll, Andi Owen, sparked viral outrage in 2023 when she told staffers worried about not getting a bonus to “leave pity city.” Some saw the comment from a high-earning executive as insensitive and out of touch, and Owen later issued a public apology.
Scandals involving personal relationships among executives can be even more fraught. Most companies have policies about office romances and conduct training about sexual harassment that addresses issues like power imbalances among co-workers.
A relationship between senior executives can send a message that “the rules don’t apply to us,” said Deb Muller, chief executive of HR Acuity, a technology platform that helps companies track employee investigations and complaints. Employees, vendors, customers and investors may also question the integrity of leaders.
“You have to start using some judgment when you’re in senior-level positions,” Muller said.
It’s unclear what Astronomer’s policy is, but the company said Friday it had initiated a formal investigation into the matter.
Because of the risks associated with such clandestine relationships, corporate boards are less tolerant today of executive romances than they once were. McDonald’s in 2019 fired then-CEO Steve Easterbrook because of his consensual relationship with an employee. BP CEO Bernard Looney resigned in 2023 after the oil giant said he hadn’t been fully transparent about past personal relationships with colleagues. And last year, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was fired after a board probe found that his relationship with the railroad giant’s chief legal officer violated company policies.
None of those incidents, though, sparked the glee and gloating that the video of the Astronomer CEO and his HR chief have generated.
The schadenfreude that comes with the public takedown of a CEO, said Yale’s Sonnenfeld, “is elevated even more right now.”
