There’s more news about Coldplay‘s infamous “kiss-cam,” except this time the happy couple caught canoodling were all smiles. In the wake of the mega-viral Astronomer scandal in which the CEO Andy Byron resigned after getting caught hugging an HR employee during a Coldplay gig in Boston earlier this month, during the band’s gig in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Sunday night (July 27) soccer legend Lionel Messi was caught grinning ear-to-ear and waving when the cameras zoomed in on him and wife Antonela Roccuzzo enjoying the show.
As fans started chanting “Messi! Messi!” for the Inter Miami FC football star, singer Chris Martin busted out a spontaneous musical homage to the hometown hero, crooning, “Well, Lio, my beautiful brother/ You and your wife are looking so fine/ Thanks for coming today to see our band play/ The No. 1 sportsperson of all time.”
The happy smile and wave was a world away from Byron’s reaction at the July 16 show at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. In that now-infamous clip, the CEO was seen embracing the tech company’s now-former HR officer, with both of them quickly ducking out of frame to avoid the cameras once they realized they’d been kiss-cam’d. “Whoa, look at these two. All right, come on. You’re OK. Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy. I’m not quite sure what to do,” Martin joked at the time.
In addition to becoming an instant, inescapable global meme and cautionary tale, the incident has also inspired an quick turn-around online novella, Caught on the Jumbotron. According to a description of the instant book uploaded to online reading app Galatea, “When Ellie discovers her husband — tech CEO Derek Brighton — locked in a scandalous embrace with his head of HR live on the Jumbotron at a Goldray concert, her world implodes. Heartbroken, Ellie walks away from the betrayal—and straight into the spotlight. Enter Leo Voss, the undeniably sexy, tattooed lead singer of Goldray.”
The story then follows a backstage encounter that blows up into an “whirlwind romance” between the “leather-clad rock god” and his new muse. “Together they’re unstoppable. But as Ellie rediscovers her voice, the media frenzy surrounding her reaches a fever pitch,” it reads. “Then Leo’s ex-wife re-appears, and Ellie must risk another public heartbreak. The last thing she needs is to make her life messier. Will she choose a love that doesn’t play by the rules?”
After wrapping up the latest North American leg of the three-year tour, Coldplay’s record-setting Music of the Sphere’s world outing will reboot in mid-August with yet another run of shows in their native U.K., including a 10-night final run at London’s Wembley Stadium.