A video of a CEO getting caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert has become one of the most viral videos and stories of the year, and it's now inspired a meme drawing comparisons to the tragedies that have befallen other CEOs in the past several years.

The meme is known as the "Every Summer Fate Chooses A CEO for sacrifice" meme, and it's been popping up all over X / Twitter, Reddit and beyond in the last day. But the lack of context is confusing some people.

So, what is the context behind the four images seen in the meme? Here's what you need to know.

@instaagraace trouble in paradise?? 👀 #coldplay #boston #coldplayconcert #kisscam #fyp ♬ original sound – grace

What Is The 'Every Summer Fate Chooses A CEO' Meme?

The "Every Summer Fate Chooses A CEO" meme is a viral image macro captioned, "Every summer, fate chooses a CEO for the sacrifice. That's the ritual."

A version of it was first posted to X on July 17th, which gained over 222,000 likes in a day. The original version features images of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, who exposed Byron by accident, and two other images.

Now, another version of the meme that replaces the image of Chris Martin with an image of some orca whales is spreading on sites like Reddit and Instagram.

This version of the meme has caused a little confusion, as even those who know the context behind the other three images can't seem to figure out the context of the orca whales.

What Is The Context Of The 'Every Summer Fate Chooses A CEO' Meme?

To fully understand the meme, it's required that you know the context behind each of the four images. As we already know, the top-left image is of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, who was caught cheating at a Coldplay concert and is now on leave from his job.

The next image is a photo of Luigi Mangione, who is currently on trial for allegedly assassinating UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in one of the most high-profile crimes of the last decade.

The bottom-left image is the OceanGate sub, which tragically imploded on a voyage to the site of the Titanic's crash after its CEO attempted to convince everyone it was safe.

Finally, the orca whales refer to a 2020 incident known as the "Orca Wars" or "Iberian orca attacks," during which a subpopulation of orca whales (or killer whales) were documented attacking boats in Spain and Portugal, many of which were yachts. There are no reports that they killed any CEOs, but as far as the meme is concerned, it presumes some were owned by CEOs.

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For the full history of the Astronomer CEO caught cheating, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.