Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron to sue Coldplay after viral ‘Kiss Cam’ moment with Kristin Cabot? Here’s what we know

Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron may consider suing Coldplay over comments made by Chris Martin regarding an alleged affair with colleague Kristin Cabot. Legal experts suggest such a lawsuit would likely be unsuccessful.

Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron may file a lawsuit against Coldplay following the controversy from his kiss cam fiasco with his former colleague Kristin Cabot, a legal expert confirms, but he’d have to get really “creative.”

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

According to Cornell Law, defamation is a statement, either written or verbal, that hampers somebody’s reputation.

Byron and Cabot tried to hide their faces after they were caught hugging at Coldplay’s concert last week when Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”

Dowlatshahi says that to prove Martin made a defamatory statement, Byron would need to demonstrate “that there wasn’t an affair”. This seems unlikely, as neither Byron nor Cabot has publicly denied the claim, and it has been shown that both have spouses.

Additionally, the former CEO will have to prove in court that Martin “knew or should have known” that he was not cheating “but made the statement anyway with malice.”

“None of those elements will be met, so any claim against Coldplay would be frivolous,” Dowlatshahi said.

“I also very much doubt that Mr. Byron would want further public scrutiny by bringing a borderline frivolous suit against the event organisers and/or Coldplay,” he added.

Ray Seilie, attorney at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir LLP told PageSix, “The only thing a lawsuit by Byron would accomplish is that it would keep his indiscretion in the news for much longer,” adding that it is “extremely unlikely that Byron has a valid claim against Coldplay.”

Seilie added, “He has no expectation of privacy in a public arena and my guess is that he accepted an even broader release of privacy-related claims when he purchased his ticket.”

Dowlatshahi further confirmed, “Typically, the terms and conditions of purchasing a ticket will include a provision granting the event organisers a license to use photos and videos of people in the audience, so the two-party consent state law doesn’t apply. If Coldplay is not defined as part of the event organisers in the terms and conditions, the band isn’t commercialising Mr. Byron’s name, image and likeness outside of the context of the live performance at that time, so there’s no claim there.”

Dowlatshahi suggests that Byron might try to sue based on those grounds, but he “won’t be successful.”