Andy Byron Might Have a Defamation Case: Report

“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy." 

That's what Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said after the band's kiss cam panned to Atronomer CEO Andy Byron and his head of human resources, Kristin Cabot, hugging at a show, and then looking mortified. 

The video quickly took the internet by storm last week. 

Astronomer, a private data infrastructure startup valued at $1.3 billion, quickly announced Byron was placed on leave. 

Just a day later, on July 19, the company said Byron "stepped down" from his position after his alleged affair with Cabot became public.

"Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO," the company said. 

Byron is estimated to be worth between $50 and $70 million, was paid between $469,000 and $690,000 a year, and received performance-based bonuses, according to a report from the New York Post.

Now, he could get more. 

Byron could sue Coldplay due to the massive fallout from the kiss cam, a legal expert told Page Six, but he would have to get really "creative."

“If we are getting creative, a possible claim would be for defamation, specifically as it relates to Chris Martin characterizing the two as having an ‘affair,'” attorney Camron Dowlatshahi from MSD Lawyers told Page Six.

Defamation is a statement that harms a person's reputation. It involves a false and unprivileged statement of fact that is communicated to a third party and can be either spoken or written. 

Meanwhile, DeJoy, wrote in a post that recent and unexpected national attention has turned the company into “a household name.”

On LinkedIn, he said, "The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter. The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name."