A concert that they are not about to forget! During a COLDPLAY concert on July 16, 2025 Au Gilette Stadium in Boston, Andy Byron, Big Boss of the start-up Astronomer, was filmed by the “Kiss Cam” hugging Kristin Cabot, the director of human resources of the company. The catch? Andy Byron is married to Megan Kerrigan Byron and father of two children. Embarrassed, the two lovebirds tried clumsily to hide, but too late, the giant screen displays them in 4K …
“Either they have an affair, or they are super shy!” », Winds away Chris Martin, the singer of Coldplay. Nicknamed “Coldplay-Gate”, this crisp moment went around social networks, and had major impact on the lives of the two filmed protagonists.
“We are going to use our cameras and display some of you on the big screen,” warned Chris Martin, before launching his ritual of Jumbotron Song, a moment of improvisation where he sings live on the images of the spectators filmed by the Kiss Cam, during a concert in Madison in Wisconsin on Saturday. Then, with a touch of irony: “So please, if you have not made up, do it now”.
Do we have the right to film or photograph yourself at a concert? Can we reuse these images? 20 Minutes Take up with Antoine Kibler, lawyer specializing in image law and intellectual property.
An implicit agreement
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“If we take the framework of a sporting event or a concert, you implicitly consent by your participation in the event to authorize the dissemination of your image, in the context, we will say, the promotion of the event or the concert,” said the expert. And the lawyer to explain: “In practical terms, it would be complicated to go and request the authorization of each person on a concert, it would be almost impossible to do. »»
The only exception to this rule, capturing a show. “There, often, an authorization is to have participants sign or then, when purchasing the ticket, we remind you that you will be filmed and that if that is a problem for you, you must indicate,” specifies the expert.
Potential legal consequences
Overall, if you attend the Rock en Seine festival, that a journalist 20 Minutes you photograph you or films you on this occasion, 20 Minutes will have the right to use these images to illustrate an article that talks about this festival. On the other hand, if you are photographed in Rock en Seine a glass of beer in hand, and that 20 Minutes Use your photo to illustrate an article on alcoholism in France, there you can try legal proceedings. “The potential legal consequences, it is when the dissemination of the image is not directly linked to the promotion of the concert or to a news linked to this concert,” specifies the lawyer.
The infringement of privacy law
In this case, “we are beyond the exploitation of the image, we are on an attack on the right to privacy, which is a fundamental right both on the national level on the exposure of the Civil Code, article 9 of the Civil Code”, details the expert. Article 9 of the Civil Code provides that “everyone has the right to respect their private life”. Similarly, according to case law, “anyone, whatever their rank, birth, fortune, their present or future functions, has the right to respect for their private life” (Cass. Civ. 1st, 23 Oct. 1990). This right to privacy is “a fundamental right with national and international protection”, since it is also on the International Human Rights Charter.
When the victim contributes to his damage
In the case of this famous kiss cam Who surprised an illegitimate couple in the middle of a Coldplay concert, are we not “on a direct attack on the right to privacy of the two people targeted,” wonders Antoine Kibler?
“The device kiss cam is probably seeing and there have certainly been other couples filmed before them, said the lawyer. We should know the general conditions of the purchase of the ticket ”. But, as soon as “they arrive in a public event, they consent, they have surely seen the installation since the start of the event, and however they take the risk”, he decides.
“There is also a principle, a little further from the right to image, which is that when the victim contributes to his damage, by his act, he finally participates directly in the damage she undergoes, which reduces the responsibility, if he had existing, of the person at the origin of the disclosure. We can start from the principle that if they had not wanted to get caught, they could have been more discreet, ”replies the lawyer. If they had been caught in the act of adultery by a paparazzi, the case would take another turn.
“The paparazzi voluntarily comes to try to reveal something. We will consider that his act is voluntary and that from his voluntary act follows a prejudice for the person, ”he explains.
The background of an innocent selfie
But what would happen if an individual makes a selfie during a concert, that we can see an adulterous couple in the background, and that this particular posts the photo on social networks? “The principle of responsibility in French law is that you must identify a fault, a loss of damage, finally a causal link and damage, you must have a fault that is necessarily linked to the damage which results from it. So, for an attack on privacy, it is still necessary, in my opinion, to justify that you have committed a fault in the production of the photo. We must prove that there was the intention of revealing something. On the question of the selfie presented, there would be no subject, considers the lawyer. Above all, if you are the main subject of the photo, this couple would in fact be in contextualization of the event. In short, in concert or during a public demonstration, smile and be discreet if you don’t want to be embarrassed!
