Andy Byron: Big businesses react to viral Astronomer Coldplay concert ‘kiss cam’ cheating scandal

The Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ scandal has taken the internet by storm; even government departments and a hugely popular restaurant are using the viral content to promote their own products.

The awkward images at Coldplay’s Boston show on Wednesday evening of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron intimately hugging his company’s head of HR Kristin Cabot on a roaming ‘kiss cam’ went instantly viral.

Having realised they were being filmed, Cabot darted out of Byron’s arms and turned her back to the camera, while the CEO ducked down out of sight, causing Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to joke on-stage that they must be “having an affair.”

It’s since surfaced that both Byron and Cabot are married to other people, resulting in CEO Andy Byron to be Australia’s most Googled search on Friday.

It seems to be the reaction from Byron and Cabot when they were caught on camera red-handed that has captured the imagination of Aussies and sparked a huge amount of memes, parodies and promotions.

Nandos has offered a promotion to Aussies in the spirit of Byron and Cabot’s alleged affair, emailing customers to ask if they wanted a “Little something on the side?”

It’s not just hospitality businesses cashing in on the viral trend, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services is also using it to publicise the blustery weather that’s hitting WA this weekend.

“Looks like it’s not just the Coldplay concert that’s getting wild,” DFES captioned a post about the weather this weekend which featured a picture of a WA weather map overlayed with a screen grab of Byron and Cabot’s shocked faces.

“A strong cold front is heading our way from Sunday, bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds, but unlike this unfortunate couple, we saw it coming,” the post on social media jokes.

The post has more than 2000 likes and has been flooded with comments.

“I saw this post 31 minutes ago and still laughing,” one person said.

“I‘m sure there were a few more cold fronts when they got home to their spouses!” another commented.

Transport for NSW has also used the image of Byron and Cabot looking panicked to equate it to the feeling “when you realise you forgot to tap on.”

The post has got 16,000 likes and more than a thousand comments.

“Oh he was tapping something alright,” one person commented.

“When you tapped ON but forgot to tap OFF,” another said.

Neither Andy Byron, Kristin Cabot, or Astronomer have released official statements regarding the viral incident; however, there has been a fabricated statement released from a parody account on X pretending to be Byron, adding a whole extra layer to the moment that has captured global attention.

A commenter on Perth Now’s Facebook page joked that the now-viral incident has created great publicity for Coldplay despite it potentially tearing apart the marriages of Byron and Cabot.

“Coldpay haven’t made a single in years! Last night they made 2” they said.