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Astronomer cofounder Ry Walker addressed the company’s CEO, Andy Byron, and Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, seemingly being caught cheating by a Kiss Cam at a Coldplay concert.
“For those asking — I’m no longer involved in @astronomerio — yes I was co-founder and early CEO — not on the team or board since 2022, and have no information on ColdplayGate,” Walker clarified via X on Thursday, July 17.
Walker clearly wanted to distance himself entirely from the controversy, since he also confirmed that he doesn’t even listen to Coldplay.
“I have 704 liked songs in Spotify — none are Coldplay, but I do think Chris Martin is an amazing vocalist,” he insisted.
When an X follower sarcastically asked Walker to “attest to this jury that you have never and will never attend a Coldplay concert under any circumstance,” Walker replied: “Definitely :)”
Byron and Cabot went viral for a very unfortunate reason while attending Coldplay’s show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 16, when they were flashed on the jumbotron. Byron — who is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron — had his hands around Cabot’s waist, before ducking out of sight as his employee attempted to hide her face from the camera.
Footage of the awkward moment has generated huge media attention, with millions of views on social media and commentary from the likes of Chrissy Teigen, Bethenny Frankel and Katie Nolan, among others.
Astronomer is a data orchestration and observability platform, which said in a press release that its goal is to “empower your team to build, run and observe data pipelines that just work, all from one place.”
Byron joined Astronomer as CEO in 2023, which means he may not have crossed over with Walker’s time with the company. The embattled Byron came to Astronomer after serving as tech firm Lacework’s president from 2019 to 2022.
What makes the jumbotron scandal all the more awkward is that Byron personally announced Cabot’s hiring in November 2024. (Cabot joined Astronomer after four years as Chief People Officer at graph database management company Neo4j.)
“At Astronomer, our people are the most valuable asset in helping our customers do more to gain a competitive advantage with their data,” Byron said. “Kristin’s exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory. She is a proven leader at multiple growth-stage companies and her passion for fostering diverse, collaborative workplaces makes her a perfect fit for Astronomer.”
At the time of her hiring, Cabot said that she felt “energized” by her conversations with Byron throughout the hiring process.
Meanwhile, Byron’s wife has reportedly changed her name on Facebook and scrubbed most of her social media in the wake of her husband’s cheating rumors.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has yet to respond to the concert clip’s viral status, though he did seemingly realize something was off at the time.
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Just after Byron and Cabot tried to hide from the Kiss Cam, Martin joked: “Whoa, look at these two. Alright, come on. You’re OK! Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy. I’m not quite sure what to do.”
He then declared, “Holy s***. I hope we didn’t do something bad.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Astronomer and to both executives for comment on the incident.
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