Andy Byron, Kristin Cabot 'Coldplay Scandal' Sparked Many False Reports. Here's a List

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Andy Byron, Kristin Cabot 'Coldplay Scandal' Sparked Many False Reports. Here's a List

Former tech CEO Andy Byron and his company's "chief people officer" Kristin Cabot went to a Coldplay concert together, and it changed their lives forever.

An untold number of memes and jokes later, and Byron has tendered his resignation. That is a fact; his company, Astronomer, confirmed it.

However, in a cautionary tale of the internet's excesses, a number of outright false reports emerged during the course of the scandal, and many of them had hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of viewers.

To recap, Byron and Cabot were projected on the Jumbotron at the Coldplay concert in Massachusetts, and they decided to duck. That drew the attention of frontman Chris Martin, who famously speculated about whether they were "shy" or having an "affair."

Both have been married to others, per multiple published reports; Byron is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron, who subsequently deleted her Facebook page (Men's Journal viewed it before it was taken down), and Cabot has been married to Privateer Rum CEO Andrew Cabot and a man named Kenneth Thornby, according to the New York Post. The current state of the marriage to Andrew Cabot is not clear, though, and Privateer Rum did not return a request for comment.

Here's a roundup of some of the most prolific false statements:

No, Andy Byron didn't give a statement trashing Coldplay. He has not put out any statement.

Early on, a statement attributed to Andy Byron circulated widely on social media. In it, the author criticized Coldplay.

The company says that the post is fake. Byron has not made any public comment.

The false statement claimed Byron had apologized for a "deeply personal mistake." The X page that circulated it is now suspended.

It was one of two fake statements attributed to Byron that widely circulated on X and even found their way into news stories on some other sites.

"Andy Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect," Astronomer wrote in a legitimate statement on X.

No, Astronomer employee Alyssa Stoddard was not at the concert.

Much social media attention focused on a woman who was seen smiling in the Jumbotron next to Cabot. Social media "sleuths" identified her as an Astronomer employee named Alyssa Stoddard.

However, Astronomer says that is false. The woman is not Alyssa Stoddard.

"Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video," Astronomer wrote on X.

No, a company employee named Alex Cohen was not fired.

A post by an X page in the name of Alex Cohen purported that he was an employee who was fired by Astronomer.

Only problem is, Astronomer says that isn't true, either. In an email to Men's Journal, Astronomer stated that Cohen's post is fake, and he was never an Astronomer employee.

This is what the Cohen post had claimed, “I was fired from Astronomer today. I ran our company’s events team. Turns out our CEO and Head of HR were having an affair and got caught at the Coldplay concert that I bought the company tickets to. They blamed me for getting caught and fired me on the spot. Taking some time to reflect and will start looking for jobs soon."

False, says Astronomer.

No, Kristin Cabot is not still married to Kenneth Thornby.

Some social media posts and sites painted a man named Kenneth Thornby as Cabot's aggrieved husband. However, Thornby is not her current husband. They were divorced in 2022, the New York Post reported.

No, Coldplay didn't release a statement on the incident.

A supposed X post by Coldplay also went viral in the wake of the scandal, but that's not real either. It doesn't appear on the band's actual X page.

"Starting with our next show, we're introducing camera-free audience sections for people and their sidepieces," the post states.

View more on Men's Journal's website »

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