While people were judging a couple based on their employer and personal lives as listed online during a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Mass., I saw their reaction as being the match that lit a story.
You see, if they hadn’t covered their faces and ducked when a kiss-cam came their way, the video of them might not have become a thing.
So, now a question: Who got more publicity—Coldplay, the couple captured on the band’s big screen, or a company that most outside of tech had never heard of before the video went viral?
Quick recap: Data firm Astronomer’s CEO, Andy Byron and Chief People Officer (HR director), Kristin Cabot, were caught during a kiss-cam sweep at a concert. Their duck-and-run response sparked uh-ohs and lots of speculation.
Their reaction sparked the hot takes that led to a PR issue. Had they stayed chill and not reacted to their images on the screen, the public might not know the name Astronomer-the-company any better than it did last week.
Did social media turn everyone into your nosy neighbor?
There have always been neighbors who peek through the blinds and talk about what they see—whether they know what they’re talking about or not. Social media turned everyone into that person. Always watching. Always needing to say something. And judging? Plenty of that, too.
If Byron and Cabot had just smiled, the camera would have moved on and only people who knew them would’ve had a clue about company rules—if there are any—or anything personal. I mean, they were at a concert. Not exactly hiding.
Instead, they covered their faces and ducked like they’d been caught doing something. Their reaction was the crisis. It ended with Byron stepping down.
In public relations, we coach that how you respond in the moment decides how big a story becomes.
Think about the little kid who wails when he sees something crawling near him, but upon further review, he realizes it’s a harmless fly. His cries made it seem like something horrible happened.
If you don’t panic—don’t flinch, run or look terrified—what feels like a crisis to some might barely register with others. That’s something we drill in PR and crisis comms. Practice responses at work, and it becomes part of everyday life.
But that nosy neighbor—they always think they know something, whether there’s a something or not. We don’t know any more than what’s online, and we still don’t know if Astronomer has a policy against staff relationships.
We only know that the couple’s reaction sparked a social media fire. Smile and carry on, and you create fewer memes—and less for the world to judge.
© 2025 Gail Sideman, gpublicity.com
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