Chris Martin warned concertgoers about the kiss cam after a previous incident involving senior executives Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot. Photo / Getty Images
Chris Martin warned concertgoers about the kiss cam after a previous incident involving senior executives Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot. Photo / Getty Images
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin made a warning to concertgoers on Saturday night (US time) letting them know the kiss cam was about to be turned on and could broadcast their relationship to the world.
On Saturday, Martin forewarned the crowd in Madison, west of Milwaukee in the US state of Wisconsin, so a similar awkward encounter could be avoided.
“We’d like to say hello to some of you in the crowd, how we gonna do that, is we gonna use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen,” Martin told the crowd at a show at Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium.
“So please, if you haven’t done your makeup, do your makeup now,” he added.
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and colleague Kristin Cabot at a Coldplay Concert in Boston on the concert Kiss Cam. Picture / Supplied
Kiss cam CEO’s salary emerges
It’s emerged that as CEO of Astronomer, Byron had been on a tidy sum.
According to the New York Post, Byron was paid between US$469,000 and US$690,000 ($785,593.76 to $1.15m) a year, plus performance-based bonuses.
He is believed to be worth US$50 million ($83.7m).
The most recent valuation for Astronomer placed the company’s worth at US$1.3 billion ($2.1b).
However, he won’t be getting that pay cheque after he resigned from his leadership role at the firm.
Astronomer confirmed Byron had quit on Saturday.
“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,” a spokesman said, reported The New York Post.
“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.”
Andy Byron has resigned as CEO of the AI-centric New York firm Astronomer. Picture / Astronomer
DeJoy seemed to be enjoying the furore.
He “liked” a LinkedIn post from Zachary Hensley – who was the vice president of technology and operations at Astronomer from 2019 to 2024 – in which he admitted, “Yes, I’ve laughed at the memes”.
The former staffer shared, however, that he had mixed feelings about the entire ordeal, adding, “But I also know Astronomer is more than one moment or one person. It’s a team of smart, kind, driven people doing incredible work. And I’ll always be rooting for them.”
Hensley noted in his post that despite seeing all of the memes and having shared “more than a few,” he “felt a strange mix of pride, nostalgia, and whiplash” before gushing about his time at the tech company.