It's all taken down: video messages to the billionaire from the Coldplay concert are going viral on social networks

Pretend to be providing first aid or doing back exercises — social media users are coming up with crazy ideas about how Andy Byron, CEO of the American technology company Astronomer, could avoid a huge scandal at a Coldplay concert. During the show, the kissing camera showed the married billionaire hugging another woman, his colleague Kristin Cabot, to a huge audience. The couple began to hide from the lens — this reaction went viral on the Web, giving rise to many parodies. Byron lost his job as a result of the scandal. About this, as well as about how the profiler assessed the behavior of the characters in the online video, is in the Izvestia article.

Intimate scandal at the Coldplay concert

The scandal surrounding Andy Byron, the married CEO of the (now former) Astronomer IT company, who was shown a "kissing camera" at a Coldplay concert, provided rich ground for the creativity of social media users. In addition to various kinds of memes, parodies, and videos with alternative developments created with the help of AI, ideas have become popular about how a couple caught in the lens should behave so that the story does not acquire such grandiose proportions — Byron is retired, his marriage is under threat, the story is being discussed around the world, its heroes are dedicated to merch, flipbooks, create toy copies of them.

The billionaire, who hugged his colleague from behind at the concert, according to users, being under the gun of cameras, could pretend to help his companion stretch her back. Another funny option is to play as if she choked and he was pumping her out. Kristin Cabot, according to social media, could also get her bearings and, for example, demonstrate self-defense techniques to get out of a piquant situation: throw Byron over her shoulder and start fighting back, as if he attacked her from behind. All this, according to the witty authors, would be better than abruptly pulling away from each other, starting to cover their faces with their hands and trying to hide from the cameraman who was broadcasting what was happening to a stadium of thousands.

What does the profiler say about the reaction of the participants in the video

Izvestia was asked to evaluate the behavior of the characters in the story by a profiler and a psychologist.

— In the video from the Coldplay concert, which quickly went viral, the couple — Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot — first demonstrate physical intimacy: they stand close, Cabot holds his hand on his shoulder, their facial expressions indicate a close relationship. This pose at concerts is a typical demonstration of an intimate communication zone, typical for people in a romantic relationship. However, when the kiss cam appears, the reaction of both changes dramatically. A sharp withdrawal of the hand (by Cabot) is a gesture of instant self—control, indicating awareness of unacceptable behavior in a public environment. A frozen facial expression is an instant stupor reaction characteristic of an unexpected threat to a social image. Byron's facial tension, looking down and away is a typical manifestation of guilt and shame, as well as attempts to "disconnect" from what is happening. Nervous laughter and partial face covering (for both) are an uncertain reaction aimed at mitigating the situation, but it betrays the unnaturalness of what is happening," psychologist and profiler Alexey Filatov explained in an interview with Izvestia.

All this, according to the expert, suggests that the couple did not expect the camera, did not have a coordinated behavior strategy, and at the moment was unable to maintain control and image. Filatov notes that body signals show that both understand that they are "caught" and that the situation may have consequences.

— The very pose before turning on the camera — leaning towards each other, sharing a space without interpersonal distance — was very different from the "neutral" position typical for colleagues or friends. All this is read instantly and automatically by viewers, enhancing the perception of the intimate nature of the relationship. The main mistake was an inadequate reaction to the camera, which did not correspond to the setting (a festive musical event), which immediately caused cognitive dissonance among the audience. When people start behaving dramatically differently from what is expected of them, it attracts maximum attention. They didn't take into account the likelihood of public attention (especially in the kiss cam area) and chose the wrong way to "get out" of the situation — an overly scared and twitchy reaction attracted more attention than calm irony or disregard could, says Alexey Filatov.

According to him, the situation could have had fewer consequences if the participants had maintained calm and neutral facial expressions, and once in the frame, they smiled, waved or leaned towards each other in a slightly friendly way, but did not make abrupt withdrawals, avoidance, or closed gestures, which are interpreted as if the object is hiding something. During his next concert, the Coldplay leader warned the audience that some of them might get caught in the camera lens, writes the Daily Mail.