Additional Coverage:
- Woman from Coldplay kiss-cam incident says ‘wheels fell off the cart’ after hate-filled response (latimes.com)
Kiss-Cam Catastrophe: Local HR Exec Breaks Silence on Viral Coldplay Moment
Remember that viral Coldplay kiss-cam video from back in July that had everyone talking? Well, the woman at the center of the storm, Kristin Cabot, is finally sharing her side of the story, and it’s a wild ride that goes way beyond a simple on-screen smooch.
For those who missed the social media frenzy, the video captured a seemingly innocent moment at a Coldplay concert when the kiss-cam spotlighted Cabot in the arms of her boss, CEO Andy Byron. What followed was a swift duck-and-cover by Byron and Cabot turning her back in embarrassment before fleeing the scene.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin himself quipped, “Wait, what? Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.”
The internet, naturally, leaned heavily towards the former.
“I was so embarrassed and so horrified,” Cabot recently told The New York Times. “I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad.”
Cabot clarifies that while Byron was her “plus-one” that night, they were on a VIP balcony, had been enjoying some tequila, and yes, they did share a kiss – their only one, she states. She admits to having a crush and, in a moment of concert revelry, took his hands and wrapped his arms around her.
The fateful footage was captured by Grace Springer, a Zillennial who, at her friends’ urging, posted it to TikTok. Springer, who claims she didn’t monetize the video, later expressed some remorse on a U.K. morning show, saying, “A part of me feels bad for turning these people’s lives upside down, but, play stupid games … win stupid prizes.”
The video quickly exploded, fueled by social media algorithms and even celebrity shares from Gwyneth Paltrow and Whoopi Goldberg. But for Cabot, the virality spiraled into a nightmare. She was doxxed, received a barrage of hate-filled phone calls and emails, was accosted by strangers, and endured 50 to 60 death threats.
The impact on her family was devastating. Her children accidentally overheard one of the threatening calls, causing them immense fear.
“They were already in really bad shape, and that’s when the wheels fell off the cart,” Cabot recounted. “Because my kids were afraid that I was going to die and they were going to die.”
A Free Press writer at the time criticized the public’s “unhinged and vicious glee” in tearing down figures associated with “adultery. CEOs.
HR representatives. Rich people with linen shirts and expensive highlights.
Coldplay, for that matter.”
Cabot, who has since resigned from her position along with Byron, reflects on the incident with a sense of accountability. “I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss.
And it’s not nothing. And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that.
That’s the price I chose to pay,” she told the NYT. “I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up.
But you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them.”
Now, with her Bernedoodle, Burt Reynolds, by her side, Cabot is speaking out. She notes that the most cutting criticism and in-person harassment largely came from other women. “I think we are holding ourselves back tremendously,” Cabot observed, “by cutting each other down.”