Andy Byron, the fifty-year-old CEO of Astronomer, a data and AI giant in Cincinnati, Ohio and Kristin Cabot, the company’s HR chief have, in a perverse sort of way, achieved global notoriety after they were ‘caught out’ by the ‘Kiss Cam’, at a concert in Boston, Massachusetts last week.
Coldplay have been termed by influential musical guru, ‘Afisha’s’ Sergey Stepanov, as “This century’s equivalent of the Beatles”, having sold over 100 million albums, reached an audience of 90 million Spotify listeners and stayed relevant to the ‘pop’ genre for almost forty years. From hard rock, through soft rock, their romanticism has kept them at the forefront of the performing arts and made theirs the ‘go to’ concerts, especially during the summer. It’s where you would take the one you love, the one close to you and surrender to the romance that Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Phil Harvey inspire.
Ironically for Byron and Cabot, they were ‘snapped’ by the ‘Kiss Cam’, rocking gently, romantically, lovingly, as Martin chatted to their audience between gentle romantic melodies. Their slowly dawning awareness, his darting for the cover of darkness and her realisation of what had just occurred before turning away, distraught yet with much more dignity than her ‘beau’ at least offered her more class than his ‘rat deserting a sinking ship’ imitation.
Anyway, I’m not casting stones, or passing judgement, but I found it ironic that my favourite Coldplay song is ‘Viva La Vida’, a song and lyrics inspired by the illusions of power and success; and how quickly they come and go, poetic, introspective, provocative, the lyrics echo the Frida Kahlo painting of the same name, an image of the death of Louis XVI. It’s portrayal of his struggle to be heard by the baying mob as he faces the realities of life and death, may be interpreted as our own needs to Viva la vida, or ‘live life’, as nothing is permanent.
Certainly, for Byron and Cabot, their lives will never be the same again and it’s just as well they both have independent means, although Byron’s bank balance will surely be battered by his cuckolded wife, who, along with both families, will surely exact her own form of retribution. It’s difficult to see the ‘canoodlers’ staying together either... I mean, he ‘got out of there and left her to ‘face the music, didn’t he? What a bounder, a cad, a rogue, rascal and scoundrel, of the first order!
And I wonder if they will ever be able to ‘park’ what happened? Probably not, as few of us could ever see them again the cuckolds suppress either a smile at their being ‘outed’, or our anger at their betrayals. As much as the pair probably don’t deserve our sympathy as such, I do hope they are supported, their suffering can be mitigated to some extent and they don’t do anything even more stupid!
Oh, how must the aggrieved ‘other halves’, and their families feel? In the face of a barrage of mirth and the very public betrayals, a groundswell of sympathy may not be enough, as they feel their own intense disappointment and seek ways to put this all behind them. Hurt comes in so many guises and comfort in so few. I hope they have faith and friends to help them navigate the difficult times ahead, as, rest assured, though smiling at the mirth inspired by the ‘Kiss Cam' episode, most of us will feel a far greater measure of genuine sympathy for those betrayed.
History hasn’t been kind to ‘couples’ throughout history, has it? Right from the beginning Adam and Eve departed from their script and nothing was the same after; and while Romeo and Juliet is an eternal Shakespearean tale in which the star-crossed young lovers tragically perished together, the capricious and notorious Bonnie and Clyde died in a hail of bullets... and that list is endless.
We like nothing more than to see the rich and famous stumble... well, these two did.
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