As an update to the story, this was confirmed by Gabe himself: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/gabe-newell-responds-to-fan-asking-about-bizarre-valve-throat-singing-story-3412684/
A fan then went straight to the source, emailing Newell to ask whether the story was real. In a reply shared online, sent from Newell’s Valve address, he provided more detail.
“Yeah, I had chatted with Paul Pena about it after I tried learning on my own,” he wrote. “I am entirely self taught and it shows.”
He added that he worked on the sygyt and kargyraa styles “and got to the point where I was really… annoying.”
Newell says he still hasn’t given it up entirely. “Every once in a while, I’ll pick it back up,” he wrote, adding that it takes a couple of weeks to condition his throat.
Pena was an American blues musician who taught himself Tuvan throat singing, later becoming the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues.
I’m not that sure about a guy who eats his own toe jam in public…
I’ll take it over a guy who throws nazi salutes. I mean, the real answer is that nobody should have so much money, it can’t do any good to anyone. But if the only controversy we can find about him is that he did that one gross thing to his foot that one time 20 years ago, I’ll take it, oh how much I’ll take it
Re-watched it. Still more appealing than Elon musk