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A MAN WHO shares the same name as an American CEO who was allegedly caught having an affair at a Coldplay gig has said he decided to clarify the situation after receiving some “odd and weird” messages on LinkedIn.
The alleged affair by CEO Andy Byron has captured the attention of the internet over the past day or so.
Coldplay were performing at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on Wednesday and frontman Chris Martin launched into the “Jumbotron Song”.
The “song” sees Martin make up lyrics on the spot about people who appear on the big screen (or the “Jumbotron”).
On Wednesday night, the camera panned to a man and a woman who were cuddling.
But instead of being happy to see themselves on the big screen, a look of horror comes across their face.
BREAKING: Astronomer announces their Board of Directors has launched a formal investigation into the viral Coldplay concert incident.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 18, 2025
"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… pic.twitter.com/KEGAgX27z2
The woman hides her face in her hands while the man turns around and crouches out of view.
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” said Martin.
As it turns out, the former appears to be the most likely theory.
Internet sleuths quickly determined that the man in question was Andy Byron, CEO of Astronomer, a software development company, and the woman was identified as Kristin Cabot, its head of human resources.
Astronomer later announced that it had initiated a “formal investigation into this matter”.
The company added that its “leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability”.
It later announced that its cofounder and Chief Product Officer would become interim CEO and that Andy Byron had been placed on leave.
Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy is currently serving as interim CEO given Andy Byron has been placed on leave.
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 19, 2025
We will share more details as appropriate in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/VfgWPnfycl
But while Andy Byron faced intense scrutiny in the US, another Andy Byron in Dublin was catching strays.
“I was away the last couple of days and I started getting texts saying, ‘did you enjoy the Coldplay gig?’,” Dublin’s Andy Byron told The Journal.
He said he “didn’t have a clue” what the messages were about but then the video of the incident, which has gone viral, was sent to him.
“My name isn’t particularly common, at least not in Ireland anyway,” said Andy.
“I didn’t think much of it but then I started getting odd and weird messages from people on LinkedIn, particularly from Americans.
“I think people were just clicking on my account and probably not even looking at who I was.
“I was getting some odd messages so I thought, there might be an opportunity here to have a bit of craic.”
Dublin’s Andy Byron posted a message to his LinkedIn profile saying: “No, this isn’t me. I wouldn’t be caught dead at a Coldplay concert.
“I’m the Andy Byron who makes videos for big screens, not the one who gets caught on them.
“If you want to make video content that goes viral for the right reasons, let’s connect.”
He then posted a link to Stylo Motion Design, a multi-disciplinary motion design, animation and VFX studio.
He also changed his job title to read: “Not the guy from the Coldplay gig!”
“I didn’t think too much of the post,” said Andy, “but I woke up this morning and my inbox was full and I had hundreds of messages and connection requests on LinkedIn.
“Then some international media outlets picked up on it and when stuff goes viral like that, it gets out of your hands.”
The post has close to 10,000 reactions at the time of writing.
And although his LinkedIn post says he “wouldn’t be caught dead at Coldplay”, Andy told The Journal that while the band wouldn’t be his “thing”, he has “nothing against them and they’re fairly non-offensive”.
Meanwhile, Byron anticipated that the internet will have “moved on to its next victim” soon.
However, he said he “might just buy his wife flowers, just in case, even though she knows I wouldn’t be at a Coldplay gig”.
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