Coldplay’s seemingly innocent use of a concert kiss cam on their Music of the Spheres World Tour inadvertently became one of the most viral moments of 2025.

At the band’s July 2025 show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, married Astronomer CEO Andy Byron was caught on the jumbotron with his arms wrapped around his company’s chief people office, Kristin Cabot. After Coldplay singer Chris Martin wondered on stage whether he’d just caught the pair having “an affair,” footage of the incident went viral and it wasn’t long before the two Astronomer employees were identified by internet sleuths.

Byron was initially put on leave from Astronomer within hours of the footage going viral, before it was announced days later that he’d resigned from the company entirely. Other major artists on tour — including Morgan Wallen, American Idol judge Luke Bryan and Nickelback — poked fun at the kiss cam scandal at their own shows over the next few days.

“Anybody in here with their sidechick or whatever, I think you’re safe here,” Wallen joked on stage on July 18.

Related: Looking Back at Viral Jumbotron Moments Amid Andy Byron’s Kiss Cam Scandal

Thanks to social media, what happens on the Jumbotron doesn’t always stay in the arena or stadium. The big screens have long been a mainstay at concerts and sporting events, often used to highlight couples in the crowd for “kiss cam” segments or to showcase other fan moments. And sometimes, they stir the pot. Astronomer […]

Keep scrolling for a look back at some of many of the musicians who made light of the kiss cam scandal:

Morgan Wallen

The country music superstar — who is no stranger to controversy on his own — mocked Byron and Cabot’s predicament during his July 18 show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

After assuring anyone with a “sidechick” that they were “safe” at his show, Wallen clarified: “I don’t condone cheating … anymore!”

Nickelback

The “Photograph” band’s frontman Chad Kroeger took time out of their headlining set at the Summer of ’99 and Beyond Festival at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Troy, Wisconsin, to offer some useful advice to any mischievous concert-goers.

“Just duck,” he encouraged anyone fearful of his go-pro camera.

Big Sean

At Mansfield, Massachusetts’s Xfinity Center, the “Bounce Back” rapper offered his own practical advice for anyone who could potentially get caught in a compromising position by his kiss cam.

“You don’t want to end up like the mother-f***ers at the Coldplay concert,” he warned. “I hope none of y’all out here are f***ing up right now. Do what you wanna do but have some respect!”

Russell Dickerson

Dickerson had fans in Doswell, Virginia, howling with laughter when he put his hit “Yours” in brand new light.

“If anybody has walked down the aisle to this song, [or] if any CEOs have been to a concert, cheating with HR to this song,” he teased.

Dickerson even proposed changing one key lyric — “I came to life when I first kissed you” — to “I came to life when I first kissed-cam’d you.”

Luke Bryan

The American Idol judge was midway through his set at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, when he warned attendees that it was time for the kiss cam.

“We’re gonna shine our cameras on anybody,” Bryan quipped. “Who’s here with their secretary tonight? Hey, it’s gotta be someone way up there.”

Related: Who Is Astronomer CEO Andy Byron’s Wife? Meet Megan Kerrigan Byron

When Coldplay switched on its Kiss Cam earlier this week, the band unintentionally opened up a whole can of worms. The Jumbotron captured footage of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron with his arms wrapped around coworker Kristin Cabot. As soon as they realized they were being blasted across the screens, they attempted to evade the cameras. […]

Bryan went on, “Don’t get caught tonight! Do not get caught tonight.”

Jason Aldean

Aldean used the Coldplay controversy to promote his own 2025 summer tour. Writing via Instagram, he urged his fans to “bring your girl to the Aldean show before her CEO does.”

A woman may have committed arguably one of the most embarrassing faux pas in public transit history after not paying attention to where she sat. Nola (@nolagordon) shared a pair of Snapchat photos she took while riding the bus. Her lack of situational awareness earned her over 270,000 views on TikTok.

‘This seat is reserved’

Nola’s first Snapchat photo, which showed her covering her mouth, was captioned, “I was wondering why everyone was staring at [me] AND I LOOK AT MY SEAT TO SEE THIS.”

The next photo showed a sign tacked on the seat she was in. It read: “This seat is reserved in honor of Rosa Parks.”

It continued, “RideOn is proud to pay tribute to Rosa Parks and to all who make a seat available to everyone.”

Needless to say, Nola probably felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. She added in the caption, “Crying cause there’s actually no way??”

Viewers are cracking up 

Nola’s commenters couldn’t contain their teasing. Several laughed at her misfortune, with some sharing what they’d do in her shoes. 

“What are they gonna do? kick you off?” one joked. Another told her to pretend she couldn’t read English. 

Others defended Nola, with one stating the sign should’ve been bigger and another saying they “would definitely assume that was just an ad and not read it.”

What is the ‘Rosa Parks seat?’

The seat is a symbolic tribute to Black civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 1, 1955. Her civil disobedience catapulted the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a historic event in the Civil Rights movement. 

Today, the metro honors Rosa Parks with the reserved seat tribute on buses and other public transit, usually during February, which is Black History Month, or near the anniversary of Parks’ act. The seat is supposed to be left unoccupied to urge folks to reflect on her courageous act against segregation. While the signs began popping up on trains for the first time this year, the gesture has been around for a while. 

In a post uploaded to the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, one user shared a photo of such a sign in 2022. It was not without its controversies. One top comment read, “So they’re telling you where you can’t sit in honor of a woman who ignored people who told her where she couldn’t sit.” 

However, one user fact-checked them: “Rosa Parks wasn’t told where she couldn’t sit and sat down. She was sitting in the black section of the bus, when the bus got crowded, the white section had no remaining seats – by law of the time, when that happens, a black person must give up their seat to any white person that wants to sit down.

“The difference is important. No one told her she couldn’t sit there. They told her that she only could sit there if no white man wanted to sit there,” they wrote. 

Is that true?

The big misconception about Rosa Parks

Most folks think that Parks was in a seat reserved for whites only, and that she sat down because she was “tired.” However, Parks, a lifelong activist, was seated in the row behind the section reserved for white passengers. When the bus began filling up and white passengers boarded, the driver told Parks to move even further back. She refused and said she was not in a seat for whites, according to the National Archives. She was then arrested, kickstarting the boycott that had a major impact on the Civil Rights movement. 

The Mary Sue reached out to Nola via email.

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Gisselle Hernandez

Gisselle Hernandez-Gomez is a contributing reporter to the Mary Sue. Her work has appeared in the Daily Dot, Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel and more. You can follow her on X at @GisselleHern. You can email her at [email protected].