CEO Resigns After Cameo on Kiss Cam

The married tech CEO who was caught on a Kiss Cam at a concert embracing his company's human resources chief has resigned, Astronomer announced Saturday. The company had told CBS News the day before that Andy Byron had been placed on leave while the company conducted an investigation. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met," Astronomer posted Saturday on LinkedIn, per the AP.

More on Kiss Cam Gate:

• The concert: The reveal happened during a recent Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The image of the canoodling Byron and Kristin Cabot was broadcast on a giant screen at Gillette Stadium—though as soon as the two realized the camera was trained on them and frontman Chris Martin called attention to it, Byron ducked out of frame, while Cabot turned her back to the cameras. A source tells Axios that Cabot was later placed on leave from Astronomer.

• Astronomer: The company rebutted that another staffer, Alyssa Stoddard, was spotted in the infamous video, as had been rumored. Company co-founder Pete DeJoy is serving as its interim CEO while the probe plays out.
• More video: TMZ has footage of what it claims is a different angle of Byron and Cabot before the Kiss Cam incident, showing the two "kissing when no one's looking" during the concert.
• Fake statement: That supposed Byron mea culpa that's circulating with a quote from Coldplay? It's a phony, reports AFP. As of Saturday morning, neither Byron nor Cabot had released an official statement. Both have taken their LinkedIn accounts offline, per CBS.

• No regrets: That's how Grace Springer, the woman who recorded the Kiss Cam debacle and helped it go viral, feels about her handiwork. "A part of me feels bad for turning these people's lives upside down, but ... play stupid games, win stupid prizes," she tells the Sun, adding that she hopes the partners of both Byron and Cabot "can heal from this."
• Cabot: The New York Post tries to clarify Cabot's somewhat-confusing marital status, noting that although she filed for divorce from spouse Kenneth Thornby in 2018 (that split was finalized in 2022), there's apparently another husband now in the mix: Andrew Cabot, CEO of the Privateer Rum spirits manufacturer. Property records show that the two have lived together since at least 2023, and that they appeared to have purchased a new home in February for $2.2 million.
• Parody: Public scandals like this inevitably attract the jokesters, and there's no shortage of them this time around. Memes are proliferating online, and the Big Lead reports that sports teams and mascots are spoofing the couple's apparent faux pas; here's a notable poke from the Philadelphia Phillies.