Following the conclusion of Produce X 101, vote rigging allegations surfaced after viewers noticed irregularities in the number of votes counted, which series PD Ahn Joon Young later admitted were rigged. Despite of this at the time, their debut moved forward. A reality show titled X1 Flash, which followed their process to debut, began airing on August 22.
X1 debuted on August 27 with the release of their first mini album 비상 : Quantum Leap and held their debut show-con at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. By November 2019, the group had temporarily halted all activities and went on an indefinite hiatus due to the severity of the event. It was also revealed that some members had still not yet signed contracts with CJ ENM due to the ongoing investigation.
On December 30, CJ ENM's CEO Heo Min Heoi held a press conference to make a formal apology regarding the manipulation controversy surrounding the Produce 101 series. He explained that CJ ENM will be compensating everyone harmed due to the incident. Regarding IZ*ONE and X1, he shared that they are working on plans for the groups to resume activities, and Mnet will give up all resulting profits towards a fund.
On January 6, 2020, CJ ENM, Swing Entertainment and the X1 members' individual agencies held a meeting to determine the future of the group. After deliberating for an hour about whether the group should continue promoting or disband, a secret ballot was held by the members' agencies. The agencies agreed prior to voting that the group would only continue if there was a unanimous agreement or else the group would have to disband.
Four agencies voted for X1 to continue activities, four agencies voted for the group's disbandment, and one agency whose vote was undecided was ultimately discarded. As a result, it was decided that the group would disband after only five months of activities. Meanwhile, their fandom, ONE IT, staged protests on CJ E&M demanding the group's disbandment was unfair and relaunch the group.
The fandom also sent LED Trucks to promote their movement, however the protest did not change the outcome. After the group's disbandment was decided, CJ ENM suggested that a previously recorded winter track be released as a goodbye song, but the idea was rejected by two or three of the members' agencies. Similarly, a suggestion from a member's agency to record a final video was rejected by another agency.
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