The woman at the center of the Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ controversy has spoken out against Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Reynolds over their reaction.
Kristin Cabot, who went viral last year during a Coldplay concert after she was caught on camera seemingly cozying up to her boss, recently chatted with Oprah Winfrey about the viral moment.
Cabot, who has since resigned from her position as Chief People Officer of Astronomer, had been watching the band with Andy Byron, the former CEO of the New York-based company, at the Gillette Stadium in Boston last July.
The pair were captured on camera sharing an intimate moment, one that they were not expecting to appear on the arena's big screen.
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"Either they're having an affair, or they're just really shy," Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said at the time.
The clip of the moment garnered more than 150 million views on TikTok alone. Months later, Cabot appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Podcast on Tuesday (March 17), where she spoke in more depth, revealing that she and her husband were already separated at the time of the concert.
Nine days after the scandal became a huge moment in pop culture, Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in a mock ad as the ‘temporary spokesperson’ of Astronomer. The video appeared on the socials of the tech start-up, however Cabot didn’t find it funny.
“That was really disappointing to me,” Cabot told Winfrey. “I felt like Gwyneth, someone whose company [Goop] is founded on or framed around uplifting women and women’s well-being... I don’t know why she felt she needed to throw gas on the fire and get involved in all of this. It just felt really hypocritical to me and unnecessary.”
She also expressed her disappointment with Ryan Reynolds. “He produced the ad, he created it and his wife has just gone through something really similar over the last year,” she said, referencing Blake Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni.
Although Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t appear on The Oprah Podcast, she shared a message with Oprah Winfrey during a phone call before Cabot’s interview.
Winfrey explained, “She was told that you and Andy Byron had signed off on that commercial,” adding, “and she said she wouldn’t have done it” if she had known otherwise.
Cabot confirmed this, responding, “She communicated that to me as well.”
UNILAD has contacted representatives for Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Reynolds.
Timeline of the Coldplay 'kiss cam' scandal
The concert that started it all
On July 15, Byron and Cabot attended the concert, where they were filmed seemingly getting comfortable, with him having his arms around her.
When the camera landed on them, the pair quickly dodged out of frame, though the moment was captured by another audience member, Grace Springer, who then uploaded the clip to social media.
The pair attempted to get out of the camera's view (TikTok/instaagrace)
In an interview following the aftermath, Springer told ITV's This Morning that she didn't regret sharing the video and that she's 'not the only one that caught it on camera', adding: "So if it wasn't me who uploaded it, I'm sure someone else would've."
Astronomer responds
After the internet identified Byron and Cabot, Astronomer issued a statement in response on their social media, saying they had 'initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly'.
They also dismissed theories there were other Astronomer team members present, and flagged false statements attributed to Bryon that were circulating online.
A second statement followed, which revealed that Bryon had been 'placed on leave'.
Bryon and Cabot resign from Astronomer
On July 19, the company announced Bryon's resignation, writing: "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."
A few days later, Cabot's resignation was also announced, as Astronomer said 'that Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer. She has resigned'.
'A household name'
Astronomer's co-founder, Pete DeJoy, who'd taken over as interim CEO in the wake of Bryon's resignation, put out a statement on LinkedIn, reflecting on the incident and the media attention the company had received.
While he 'would never have wished for it to happen like this', he went on to say that Astronomer had become 'a household name'.
Cabot resigned from her position at Astronomer following the incident (LinkedIn/Kristin Cabot)
Chris Martin responds
During a performance in Hull, UK, Martin addressed the viral incident when talking about the 'jumbotron', saying: "This is called a jumbotron, and we've done this for a long, long time, and we pick people out to say hello, and sometimes they - yeah, they turn out to be an internationally massive scandal, sure.
"But most of the time we're just trying to say hello to f**king people, that's all. Now all of this bulls**t."
Cabot finally speaks out
In an interview with the Times in December, Cabot revealed she was still experiencing the fallout from the moment, saying she had been left 'unemployable'.
She also told the New York Times that she and Bryon weren't in a sexual relationship and she hadn't kissed him until they were caught on camera that night, but she realised what the situation would look like from the outside.
She added: "I was so embarrassed and so horrified. I’m the head of H.R., and he’s the C.E.O. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad."
Topics: Gwyneth Paltrow, Ryan Reynolds, Coldplay, Celebrity
Greg Harris