PETA's Rachel Mathews pointed to the pay network's history of using animals in responding to HBO's statement defending its use of elephants on Sunday's episode, saying: "HBO and its producers cannot honestly claim any high ground or provide any assurances in this case, as they’ve been sitting on this footage showing elephants screaming in pain as trainers hit, jab, and electroshock them since June 2016, when PETA first wrote to them about the use of an elephant from Have Trunk Will Travel for an episode of Silicon Valley."