Kristin Cabot, the HR exec at the center of last year’s Coldplay “kiss cam” scandal, is headlining a crisis communications conference that’s scheduled for later this year.
Cabot will be seated on the panel, titled “Taking Back the Narrative,” at the PRWeek Crisis Comms Conference in Washington, D.C., on April 16. Individual tickets start at $875 per person.
“While attending a Coldplay concert in July and unwittingly appearing on the kiss cam for a few seconds, Kristin Cabot’s life blew up in an instant,” the description of the keynote presentation reads. “From the outside, it was an amusing, if unflattering meme; but for her, everything changed that day.”
It continues: “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.”
In July last year, Cabot told The New York Times that following the scandal, the meme had left her “unemployable.” She described being called every sexist trope (a homewrecker, a slut) by keyboard warriors and having her phone number doxxed and flooded 500 times a day. In addition, her physical appearance was scrutinized and torn apart by complete strangers online. While the other party in the scandal was also dragged online, much of the worst criticism has fallen on Cabot.
Cabot will be joined in the 35-minute discussion by journalist and communications professional Dini von Mueffling, who became Cabot’s PR representative in the aftermath of the scandal, and PRWeek senior reporter Jess Ruderman. The panel will unpack “the strategy—both immediate and long term—that has helped Cabot take control of her narrative and rewrite her story.”
Thrust into the national spotlight last summer (for those who were living under a rock), Cabot is the former head of human relations at the tech company Astronomer. While attending a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts, last July, Cabot was randomly caught on the stadium’s Jumbotron in an embrace with the company’s CEO, Andy Byron.
“Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy,” Coldplay front man Chris Martin said as the kiss cam zoomed in on the pair, who immediately separated and tried to hide. The embarrassing 16‑second clip became a major global viral sensation.
At the time, Byron was married, and Cabot was separated. But before those details were able to come to light, Cabot and Byron had already made headlines around the world, inspiring countless memes and mocked even by their own company. Both Cabot and Byron resigned from Astronomer not long after.
Cabot said in the Times interview: “I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up. But you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them.”