The woman behind the viral Coldplay kiss cam moment revealed the public shaming she has endured since she was caught on a Jumbotron at the concert in the arms of her married boss — and why she is no longer keeping quiet about it.
Kristin Cabot described the Jumbotron moment in July and months of "drowning in the vitriol of strangers" since a TikTok captured it, garnering 100 million views in just days, The New York Times reported Thursday. Cabot has been doxxed, had death threats and harassed over what happened.
"Five months after the TikTok bomb became the defining disaster of her life, she described in her first interview since the concert what it feels like to be a punchline and a target," The Times reported. "In online comments she has been called ... a homewrecker, a gold digger, a side piece — the usual tags for shaming women. Her appearance has been scrutinized, specific body parts evaluated and found insufficiently pretty. Some of the most famous people in the world — Whoopi Goldberg, Gwyneth Paltrow — and at least one furry green sports mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, have made her humiliation their material."
Cabot explained the severe doxxing and shocking death threats in the days and months following the video — suffering the fate of multiple public figures in recent months. Doxxing has become a tactic frequently used against judges and other people, including those that have stood up against President Donald Trump.
The New York Times interviewer wrote, "She was doxxed, and for weeks received 500 or 600 calls a day. Paparazzi camped across the street from her house and cars slowly cruised her block, 'like a parade,' she recalled. She received death threats: 'Not 900. That showed up in People magazine. I got 50 or 60,' she told me."
She said she debated coming forward, but decided it was time to tell her story herself.
"I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss," she told the Times. "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 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.”