Kristin Cabot’s face was on every phone screen in the world for all the wrong reasons.
The former Chief People Officer of Astronomer, 53, was caught getting a little too close to her boss, now former CEO Andy Byron, at a Coldplay concert in July 2025.
The video, later dubbed the ‘kiss cam scandal’, soon went everywhere, garnering more than 300 billion views across all platforms worldwide.
Kristin Cabot’s face was on every phone screen in the world for all the wrong reasons. (TikTok/instaagraace)
After the viral fallout died down, Cabot disappeared as she tried to piece her life back together.
That is, until yesterday, when it was announced she would be a keynote speaker at the PR Crisis Comms conference in Washington.
The event is selling tickets for $1254 (US$875) a pop, with the website stating it’s expected to unite 200 professionals for “networking, inspiration and lessons”.
The conference stands to make $250,000 if it sells out; however, according to some US media outlets Cabot won’t actually be paid for her keynote speech.
Her discussion will centre around how she and her PR representative “took control” of the narrative circulating about her online, in a bid to “re-write” her story.
”Cabot experienced firsthand the extremity of public shaming that women have long experienced when in the negative spotlight of the media, one their male counterparts often seem to avoid,” the synopsis of the event reads.
“During this session, the former Astronomer chief people officer and her PR representative, industry legend Dini von Mueffling, share the strategy – both immediate and long-term – that helped Cabot take control of her narrative and rewrite her story.”
While it’s a clear drawcard, the event itself isn’t entirely about Cabot’s story.
It will feature 22 speakers all discussing how a brand, company, or person’s life can be turned upside down in seconds, and how to deal with such an unprecedented crisis.
“And tech advances such as AI add an entirely new, yet huge, element to the conversation,” the website reads.
The conference stands to make $6.2 million if it sells out; however, Cabot won’t be making a cent. (TikTok/instaagraace)
“Think Nestlé, Kroger, Astronomer, Cracker Barrel, Beam Suntory, Amazon Web Services, American Eagle and many others that have found themselves mired in crisis this year.”
The conference aims to equip attendees with “the tactics necessary to pivot at a moment’s notice for unexpected occurrences that are now the norm, not the exception.”
Since Cabot isn’t being paid for the speaking event, it begs the question: what is she really getting out of this?
Has she really taken back the narrative? Or is this a keynote speech part of that goal?
Initially, she avoided any public comment about the situation. Then, months later, she featured in a December issue of The New York Times and The Times, owning up to her “bad decision.”
She told the newspaper that she acted inappropriately with her boss, but also insisted that the kisscam moment was the first time that she had gotten physical with him.
Now, she will talk about the strategy behind her reputation resurrection with her head of PR council Dini von Mueffling.
Whether or not this is part of her PR strategy or not, crisis Management Expert Nick Owens says the best response to any crisis is a genuine apology.
“If you genuinely have screwed up, you’ve said something offensive or you’ve hurt someone, I think you need to be prepared to come out and apologise pretty quickly,” he previously told nine.com.au.
“That’s what that’s people want to hear. It really does depend on the situation…but if you’re genuinely at fault and you know it, then I think your best strategy is own it, and then make amends with the people you might have offended.”
The moment happened at the July Coldplay concert in Boston. (Getty)
Cabot spoke at length about the scandal in an interview with The New York Times, recalling how the incident cost her her career.
”I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,” Cabot said.The New York Times.
“And it’s not nothing. I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay.
“I could have been struck by lightning, I could have won the lottery, or this could have happened. But I’m not some celebrity, I’m just a mom from New Hampshire.”
Byron resigned after the incident, with their former company penning in a statement on X: “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met”.
Cabot resigned shortly after.
In the interview, Cabot said that while everyone assumed she and Byron were still married to their partners at the time, they were both amicably separated.
The Coldplay concert was the first and only time they kissed, she claimed, and they had no idea that thousands would be there to see them getting close.
“I was so embarrassed and so horrified,” she said.
“I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad. We both just sat there with our heads in our hands, like, ‘What just happened?'”
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