BAE173’s Hangyul Reveals How He Feels About The “Produce” Series Scandal And X1’s Disbandment

BAE173‘s Hangyul recently sat down for an interview with
KPOP IDOL OLYMPIC, where he talked about his journey as an idol. During it, he also spoke about the Produce series scandal, as well as his time as an X1 member.

Hangyul was a participant on Produce X 101 and ranked 7th in the finale, which made him a member of X1.

However, as soon as X1 was formed, some netizens started speculating that the votes for Produce X 101 were rigged. Eventually, it was confirmed that not only were the votes for Produce X 101 rigged, but every season of the show had some trainees unfairly eliminated by PD Ahn Joon Young. X1 ultimately disbanded only 5 months after their debut.

Ahn Joon Young

In the interview with KPOP IDOL OLYMPIC, Hangyul was asked how he felt about the vote-rigging controversy and X1’s disbandment. Hangyul shared that it was one of the most disheartening things he’s ever experienced.

That was one of the most disheartening experiences of my life. I worked really hard to release an album and got a lot of support from the fans. I only released one album, and it was so disheartening that it was over after one album.

— Hangyul

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Hangyul also shared that the X1 members wanted to “do more” as a group, but the respective companies of the members couldn’t reach an agreement, which led to their disbandment.

The team (X1) really wanted to do more, but it was scrapped because the labels couldn’t work together.

— Hangyul

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Hangyul also spoke on how he would like to reform X1 in the future.

I really feel that was unfortunate. It’s a team that I’d like to reform one day.

— Hangyul

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When asked if he had any anger towards the people behind the rigged votes, Hangyul stated that it would be a lie if he said that he wasn’t upset.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t upset.

— Hangyul

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Despite all of this, Hangyul decided to continue with his idol career.

‘Ah, I can just try again.’ That’s the mindset I keep. But even after saying that, I was still hurting.

— Hangyul

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However, this wasn’t an easy decision to make, as Hangyul shared that he considered quitting his idol career. The main reason Hangyul considered this was because he has debuted multiple times before. Hangyul ultimately decided to continue due to his fans.

At first, I thought, ‘Should I just quit?’ I was feeling like that, but there was a part of me that really wanted to try again. The toughest part was debuting and preparing and doing it all over again. Doing it over and over, it was too much for me to handle. I only keep doing what I do because of the fans that stayed with me because if I were to quit now, then the fans would feel dejected if I were to just disappear.

— Hangyul

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Here’s the full video below.