Over the course of the show’s three seasons, we’ve grown used to hearing a stream of expletives, especially from the likes of Logan Roy. Perhaps that’s why this silent pause was so effective.
Logan Roy, the family patriarch, is widely believed to be based on Rupert Murdoch, and the Roys on the Murdoch family as a whole.
The similarities between the Roy family and the Murdoch family have been well documented. That’s not to say some inspiration wasn’t drawn from other sources.