But on Wednesday night, authorities disputed that version of events. The Cook County state’s attorney’s office charged Smollett with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report that described an attack with racist and homophobic elements. If that’s true, it would mean Smollett manufactured a nonevent — an elaborate, irresponsible hoax. It would mean he created a sympathetic role for himself as the target of an ugly, bigoted attack. It would mean the two men he identified as his assailants didn’t perpetrate any such assault. It would mean Smollett, who appears on the Chicago-filmed show “Empire,” invented this incidence of evil and then stuck to his story, even as suspicions arose that he was responsible.