Kristin Cabot, the former Head of HR at tech firm Astronomer, has spoken on the viral scandal that cost her a career. After months of silence she addressed the “Kiss Cam” moment, blaming the incident on a “bad decision” fueled by “a couple of High Noons.” Cabot admitted she acted inappropriately with her then-CEO, Andy Byron. The 16-second public display of affection, captured on a giant screen of a Coldplay concert and broadcast to millions online, left the 53-year-old executive a “meme” and, by her own admission, “unemployable.”In an interview published in The New York Times on Thursday, Cabot described what led to the viral movement and how she was treated after she was seen cuddling with her boss, saying it was a lapse in judgment. She admitted that she developed a “big happy crush” on Byron, particularly after learning he was in the midst of a marital split.“I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,” she told the publication, adding, “And it’s not nothing. And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay.”“I wanted to put a cute outfit on and go out and dance and laugh and have a great night. And that’s how it was tracking,” Cabot said in the interview. Despite a “part of my brain jumping up and down” warning her to stop, Cabot says she was “on top of the world” in the moments before the camera panned to them. “I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay,” she added.
Kristin Cabot says she got death threats
Cabot also said that she was doxxed and received 500 or 600 calls a day for weeks. She said she had to face the ‘paparazzi’ who camped across the street from her house, and cars ‘parade’ in her block. She also claimed that she got death threats: “Not 900. That showed up in People magazine. I got 50 or 60,” she said.“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,” she added.
